Jason Keller, associate director of U.S. Advisory Services with Wolters Kluwer Compliance Solutions, spoke with Dodd Frank Update about the upcoming Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) modernization rules and how lenders can prepare for any changes.
“Modernization, as others have publicly stated, is necessary,” Keller said. “It is a long time coming based on the fact that you are taking a regulation from 1977, when banking was only conducted in a brick-and-mortar environment where bankers literally sat in the community that they served. In today’s digital space and internet economy, financial institutions can still meet a CRA mandate, even if they’re not sitting in the community they serve.”
Though CRA modernization means new expectations and standards for banks to meet, Keller was confident they were up to the challenge.
“Banks want to comply,” Keller said. “Banks want to be good stewards of the community. Banks want to be strategic partners for the entities, the businesses, the homeowners, the nonprofits, the governments that live and work in the communities they serve.”
One of the most significant potential components Keller spoke of regarding a modernized CRA was the potential for a new impact test.
To get the rest of Jason’s insight on CRA modernization and what a potential impact test might mean, please visit doddfrankupdate.com.
