[1]The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC [2]) released its list [3] of Community Reinvestment Act (CRA [4]) performance evaluations that were made public during the month of December 2014 for 30 financial institutions.
The 30 financial institutions that received ratings from the OCC that became public during December were national banks, federal savings associations, and insured federal branches of foreign banks that have received ratings. The four possible ratings were outstanding, satisfactory, needs to improve, and substantial noncompliance, according to the OCC.
Two of the 30 financial institutions that were rated received a rating of outstanding: Van Wert Federal Savings Bank, a small bank in Van Wert, Ohio; and Icon Bank of Texas, National Association, an intermediate small bank located in Houston, Texas. Twenty-eight of the financial institutions evaluated received a rating of satisfactory. None of the institutions received ratings of needs to improve or substantial non-compliance.
A searchable list [5] of all public CRA evaluations can be found on the OCC's web site. The CRA was first enacted by Congress in 1977 and revised in both 1995 and 2005. The purpose of the CRA is to "encourage depository institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound operations," according to the U.S. Federal Reserve Board [6] web site.