The CRA's Non-Lending Duties: the Public File, the Lobby Notice and Branch Notices
By KnowledgeCity · 13 min read ·
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If you treat the CRA public file as an annual task, you will be late on 4 of its 5 deadlines. Only 1 of those 5 arrives on a date the bank can put in a calendar a year ahead. The other 4 in 12 CFR 345.43 start when a document lands, or when somebody at a branch asks a question.
A bank with a main office and branches in 3 states holds one copy of everything, 2 designated branch copies, and a smaller set at every other location. Each of those copies has its own currency date, and a member of the public can start a clock at any branch by asking a question at the counter.
For institutions in banking and finance the Community Reinvestment Act is usually discussed as a lending record. The duties that generate work between examinations are the non-lending ones, and they are document duties.
One note is needed on which version of the text applies. A 2023 rewrite of these regulations was enjoined by a federal court before it took effect, so the earlier regulations are the ones examiners apply. Every citation here is to that text, as it stood on March 29, 2024.
The result is a file that is complete on paper and stale in practice. What a bank needs is one versioned source and a way to show which branch held which version on the day somebody asked.
What the Community Reinvestment Act Asks a Bank to Train
The first question a compliance officer is asked about the CRA concerns training, and the answer is short. 12 CFR Part 345 places no training duty on bank staff anywhere in its 5 subparts. The part imposes a set of document duties, and those are what generate work between examinations.
What the Part Does Contain
Subpart C holds the standards for assessing performance, including the performance tests, the small bank standards, the strategic plan option and the assigned ratings. Subpart D holds records, reporting, disclosure and public engagement. The non-lending duties are in Subpart D, and 2 sections hold most of them. 12 CFR 345.43 covers the public file, and 345.44 covers the notice in the lobby.
Banks run CRA content in staff training anyway, often inside an annual training calendar for a banking compliance officer that covers a dozen regimes at once. That is a management decision about how an institution meets duties written to name the institution, and the duties themselves concern documents. The largest of them is what the public file holds.
What Goes in the Public File
What the public file holds is listed in 12 CFR 345.43(a) and (b), and the list is specific enough to audit against:
| The item | Which banks | Where it is set |
|---|---|---|
| Written public comments about the bank's performance in helping to meet community credit needs, for the current year and the prior 2 calendar years, and any response by the bank | All | 345.43(a)(1) |
| A copy of the public section of the most recent CRA Performance Evaluation | All | 345.43(a)(2) |
| A list of branches with street addresses and geographies, and a list of branches opened or closed in the current year and the prior 2 calendar years | All | 345.43(a)(3), (a)(4) |
| A list of services generally offered at branches, with descriptions of material differences in availability or cost at particular branches | All | 345.43(a)(5) |
| A map of each assessment area showing its boundaries | All | 345.43(a)(6) |
| The CRA Disclosure Statement, and consumer loan data where the bank elected that treatment | Banks other than small banks | 345.43(b)(1) |
| A description of current efforts to improve performance | Banks rated less than satisfactory | 345.43(b)(5) |
The Comment File Runs Both Ways
345.43(a)(1) asks for the written comments and any response to the comments by the bank. A file holding 3 years of comments with no replies answers half of the paragraph. The section attaches 1 condition to both halves of that paragraph. It excludes comments and responses that reflect adversely on the good name or reputation of persons other than the bank, or whose publication would violate specific provisions of law.
The Last Rating Changes the Contents
The result of the last examination adds an item. 345.43(b)(5) applies to a bank that received a less than satisfactory rating at its most recent examination. That bank includes a description of its current efforts to improve its performance in meeting the credit needs of its community. The item enters the file when the rating arrives.
Once the contents are settled, the question is where each copy lives. The rule gives one answer for the main office and a different one for an ordinary branch. Each location holds its own version, and each version carries its own currency date.
Where Each Copy Has to Live
That question is answered in 345.43(c) and (d), and the answer differs by location:
- At the main office, and for an interstate bank at 1 branch office in each state, all information in the public file.
- At each branch, a copy of the public section of the most recent CRA Performance Evaluation and a list of services provided by that branch.
- Within 5 calendar days of a request, at that branch, all the information in the public file relating to the assessment area in which the branch is located.
Applied to the interstate bank, the main office holds everything. One branch in each of the other 2 states holds everything. Every remaining branch holds 2 items on the premises and owes a third set within 5 calendar days when a member of the public asks for it.
The Copy Rule
345.43(d) requires the bank to provide copies on request, either on paper or in digital form acceptable to the person making the request. The paragraph permits a reasonable fee that does not exceed the cost of copying and mailing.
The distribution work follows directly from the contents of the file. A branch closure changes the branch list and the opened-and-closed list. A fee change alters the services list, and where it applies at some branches and not others it also alters the description of material differences. Each of those edits has to reach 3 places by one of the deadlines 345.43 sets.
Each change to those lists starts the same 4 steps:
- Update the source document on the day the change takes effect.
- Push the change to the website file, which is where the rule now looks.
- Check the branch copy where the bank keeps no website.
- Note the date of the update beside the item.
5 Deadlines Inside 1 Section
The 5 deadlines below run inside 345.43, and each starts on a different trigger:
| The deadline | What it applies to | Counted from |
|---|---|---|
| April 1 of each year | The information required by the section, except as otherwise provided | The calendar year, 345.43(e) |
| Quarterly | The description of current efforts, for a bank rated less than satisfactory | The previous update, 345.43(b)(5) |
| 30 business days | Placing the public section of the CRA Performance Evaluation in the file | Receipt from the agency, 345.43(a)(2) |
| 3 business days | Placing the CRA Disclosure Statement in the file | Receipt from the agency, 345.43(b)(1) |
| 5 calendar days | A branch producing public file information for its own assessment area | The request, 345.43(c)(2)(ii)(B) |
The 3 That Start Outside the Bank's Calendar
April 1 and the quarterly cycle run on dates the bank can schedule a year ahead. The other 3 begin only when something arrives at the bank. The 30 business day and 3 business day periods start on receipt of a document from the agency. The 5 calendar day period starts when a member of the public asks a branch a question.
A compliance calendar built only from scheduled dates records 2 of the 5. The other 3 need an owner at the point of arrival, which at branch level is whoever is at the counter when the request comes in. Name that person branch by branch, because the clock starts whether or not your staff noticed it.
Why April 1 Carries the Most Weight
345.43(e) applies to the information required by the section as a whole, so it is the date on which everything else has to be true at once. A branch list corrected in February and a services list corrected in May produce a file that was accurate on neither side of April 1. The remaining duty in the part is the lobby notice itself.
The Lobby Notice Varies by Branch
12 CFR 345.44 sets the lobby notice, and its wording depends on facts about the bank. 345.44 requires a bank to provide in the public lobby of its main office and each of its branches the appropriate public notice set forth in Appendix F to the part. The section then attaches 3 conditions that change the words.
- Only a branch of a bank having more than 1 assessment area includes the bracketed material in the notice for branch offices.
- Only a bank that is an affiliate of a holding company includes the next to the last sentence of the notices.
- The last sentence appears only where the bank is an affiliate of a holding company that is not prevented by statute from acquiring additional banks.
A bank with 1 assessment area and no holding company posts the same short version at every location. Add a fourth assessment area and a holding company above it, and the same institution posts a main office notice and a branch notice whose text differs, at every location it operates. Between those 2 banks the wording changes 3 times, and each change follows from a fact the compliance officer already knows.
Which Version Each Branch Needs
That variation is a document control question before it is a compliance question. Each branch needs the version matching its own facts, and a branch opening in a new assessment area changes which version its existing branches need. Keeping that straight is the discipline set out in this guide to documentation that survives an inspection. Each of these is checkable this week.
What a Compliance Officer Can Check This Week
What you can check this week is a short list run against your own bank. The best compliance management software for this work is whatever holds one versioned source and proves which branch held which version.
- The comment file holds the bank's responses alongside the comments it received.
- The public section of the most recent evaluation entered the file within 30 business days of arriving.
- Each branch holds that public section and a list of its own services.
- One branch in each state outside the home state holds the complete file.
- The lobby notice at each branch matches that branch's assessment area position and the bank's holding company status.
- The file as a whole was current on April 1.
Every item on that list is a document, in a place, on a date. KC Docs versions each document and targets it to the locations it applies to. It also exports the audit trail showing which version a branch held on a given day, which is the evidence a 5 calendar day request calls for.
The list also shows where the work concentrates. A bank with 40 branches maintains 40 lobby notices, 40 services lists, and 3 complete file copies, and a single branch closure touches all 3 categories at once.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does the Community Reinvestment Act require employee training?
No paragraph of 12 CFR Part 345 requires a bank to train anyone. Subpart C sets the standards for assessing performance, and Subpart D sets records, reporting, disclosure and public engagement requirements, including the public file in 345.43 and the public notice in 345.44. Banks include CRA content in staff training as a management decision about how they meet duties that name the institution.
2. What goes in a CRA public file?
Under 12 CFR 345.43(a), the file holds written public comments about the bank's performance for the current year and the prior 2 calendar years together with any response by the bank, the public section of the most recent CRA Performance Evaluation, a list of branches with street addresses and geographies, a list of branches opened or closed, a list of services with material differences by branch, and a map of each assessment area. Banks other than small banks add the items in 345.43(b)(1), and a bank rated less than satisfactory adds a description of its improvement efforts under 345.43(b)(5).
3. When must the CRA public file be updated?
12 CFR 345.43(e) requires the file to hold the information for each of the previous 3 calendar years, with the most recent calendar year included annually by April 1, except as otherwise provided in the section. Separate periods apply elsewhere: 30 business days to place the public section of the evaluation in the file under 345.43(a)(2), 3 business days for the CRA Disclosure Statement under 345.43(b)(1)(ii), and a quarterly update of the improvement description under 345.43(b)(5).
4. What must each branch keep under the CRA?
Under 12 CFR 345.43(c)(2), each branch keeps a copy of the public section of the bank's most recent CRA Performance Evaluation and a list of the services provided by that branch. Within 5 calendar days of a request, the branch must also provide all the information in the public file relating to the assessment area in which it is located. A bank that maintains a website holds the whole file on that website under 345.43(c)(1), and a bank without one holds it at the main office and, for an interstate bank, at 1 branch office in each state under 345.43(c)(2)(i).
5. Does every branch post the same CRA lobby notice?
Not always. 12 CFR 345.44 requires the appropriate notice from Appendix B in the public lobby of the main office and each branch, and sets conditions that change the wording. The bracketed material in the branch notice applies only to a branch of a bank having more than 1 assessment area, and 2 further sentences apply only where the bank is an affiliate of a holding company and where that holding company is not prevented by statute from acquiring additional banks.
References
- Code of Federal Regulations, eCFR point-in-time as of March 29, 2024. "12 CFR 345.11(c)(1), scope of the part.". ecfr.gov. (1)).
- Code of Federal Regulations, eCFR point-in-time as of March 29, 2024. "12 CFR 345.43(a)(1), public comments and the bank's responses.". ecfr.gov. (1)).
- Code of Federal Regulations, eCFR point-in-time as of March 29, 2024. "12 CFR 345.43(a)(2), the public section of the CRA Performance Evaluation.". ecfr.gov. (2)).
- Code of Federal Regulations, eCFR point-in-time as of March 29, 2024. "12 CFR 345.43(a)(3) to (a)(6), branch lists, services, and assessment area maps.". ecfr.gov. (3)).
- Code of Federal Regulations, eCFR point-in-time as of March 29, 2024. "12 CFR 345.43(b)(1)(ii) and (b)(5), the CRA Disclosure Statement and the improvement description.". ecfr.gov. (1)(ii)).
- Code of Federal Regulations, eCFR point-in-time as of March 29, 2024. "12 CFR 345.43(c)(1) and (c)(2), location of public information.". ecfr.gov. (1)).
- Code of Federal Regulations, eCFR point-in-time as of March 29, 2024. "12 CFR 345.43(d) and (e), copies and updating.". ecfr.gov. ).
- Code of Federal Regulations, eCFR point-in-time as of March 29, 2024. "12 CFR 345.44, public notice by banks.". ecfr.gov.