Q1. Who are the federal financial institution supervisory agencies?
Q2. How is the "CRA Rating determined?" What are examples of "CRA Ratings?"
Q3. What is meant by "Bank Name?"
Q4. What is the "City?"
Q5. What is the definition of "ID #?"
Q6. What are examples of "Exam Method?"
Q7. What is meant by "Exam Period?"
Q8. What is meant by "Asset Range?"
Q9. What is the definition of "PE?"
Q1. Who are the federal financial institution supervisory agencies?
There are four federal bank supervisory agencies: the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). All banks have a primary federal supervisor based upon their chartering authority. The OCC supervises all national banks, which are required by law to have the words "National," "National Association," or the abbreviation "N.A." in their names. The OTS supervises federally-chartered savings banks and savings and loans associations. These institutions must have "Federal Savings Bank" or "Federal Savings and Loan" in their names, or the abbreviation "F.S.B." or "F.S.L." The FRB is the primary federal supervisor of all insured state-chartered banks that have become Federal Reserve members. The FDIC is the primary federal supervisor for all state-chartered, insured non-member banks.
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Q2. How is the "CRA Rating" determined? What are examples of "CRA Ratings?"
The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) requires the federal financial institution supervisory agencies, in connection with their examinations of certain depository institutions, to assess the institutions' CRA performance. A financial institution's performance in helping to meet the credit needs of its community is evaluated in the context of information about the institution (capacity, constraints and business strategies), its community (demographic and economic data, lending, investment, and service opportunities), and its competitors and peers. Upon completion of a CRA examination, an overall CRA Rating is assigned using a four-tiered rating system. These ratings are: Outstanding, Satisfactory, Needs to Improve, and Substantial Noncompliance.
In the case of an interstate bank, the federal bank supervisory agencies are required by law to evaluate an institution's CRA performance in each state and metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in which it has a branch in addition to providing an overall rating for the bank's performance. The assessment of the bank's performance in these individual areas are appropriately weighted and considered in determining the overall rating.
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Q3. What is meant by "Bank Name?"
"Bank Name" refers to the name of any depository institution subject to CRA. The database allows you to search for an institution by entering all or part of its name. For example, to find Bank of Pixon you could enter "Pixon" or "Bank of Pixon." If the name search results in more than 200 matches in the database, you will receive a message asking you to provide a more exact name. "Bank" is an example of a word that will result in more than 200 matches.
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Q4. What is the "City?"
The listed city is the location of the bank or thrift's main office; branches may be located in other cities. For example, if you did a city search on "Fort Worth," it would only give you the banks or thrifts with headquarters in Fort Worth. There could be many institutions with branches in Fort Worth but headquarters in other cities like Dallas or Houston that would not be listed in response to your search.
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Q5. What is the definition of "ID #?"
"ID #" refers to the internal number that the institution's federal supervisor uses to identify the institution. For OCC supervised banks, it is the OCC's "Charter Number." For FDIC supervised banks, it is the FDIC's "Certificate Number." For FRB supervised banks, it is the FRB's "NIC ID." For OTS supervised thrifts, it is the OTS's "Docket Number."
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Q6. What are examples of "Exam Method?"
"Exam Method" refers to the procedures used to evaluate a bank's CRA performance. Until the CRA regulations were revised in 1995, banks and thrifts were examined under twelve assessment factors. In 1995, the CRA regulations were substantially revised to put greater emphasis on performance, and to establish different evaluation tests for different kinds of institutions - large, small, wholesale and limited purpose banks and strategic plans. Streamlined procedures with an emphasis on lending were adopted for small institutions, while large banks are evaluated under a three-part lending, service and investment test. Wholesale and limited purpose banks are evaluated under a community development test. All institutions, no matter their size or business strategy, may take advantage of the strategic plan option, which allows an institution to develop a plan for meeting its CRA responsibilities, subject to approval by its supervisory agency.
In 2005, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRS), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) revised their CRA regulations. As a result of the revisions, the three agencies created an additional exam method, for Intermediate Small Banks. The Intermediate Small Bank exam method applies to banks regulated by the FRS, OCC, and FDIC that have asset sizes between $250 million and $1 billion dollars. Institutions of this asset size that are regulated by the Office of Thrift Supervision are included in the Small Bank exam method.
"Exam method" is coded as follows:
- i. Large Bank
- ii. Small Bank
- iii. Strategic Plan
- iv. Wholesale/Limited Purpose
- v. Intermediate Small Bank*
- vi. Assessment Factor **
- vii. Not Reported
- viii. Hybrid***
The assessment method used to evaluate the institution's CRA performance and the format of the evaluation will vary depending in the types of performance criteria used.
* Applies only to OCC, FRS, and FDIC- regulated institutions
**Before January 1, 1996, and until July 1, 1997, some large institutions,
banks and thrifts were examined for CRA using 12 Assessment Factors.
***An institution that is evaluated under the i, ii, iv, or viii examination
criteria but has one or more of its assessment areas assessed separately under
a strategic plan.
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Q7. What is meant by "Exam Period?"
This refers to the year when the CRA examination was conducted. For example, if the CRA examination of interest to you was conducted as of June 29, 1996, you would enter "1996" in this field. To find the most recent rating, you can enter "All" in this field and the most recent examination will be shown.
Exam dates listed for the FDIC are the dates on which the CRA exam information was released and made public. The FDIC releases CRA exam information on the first day of each month. Consequently, all release dates are dated on the first. The actual exam dates can be found in the public evaluation, which is available on the FDIC CRA Ratings site at http://www2.fdic.gov/crapes/
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Q8. What is meant by "Asset Range?"
This refers to an institution's total assets reported on the most recent Call Report (for banks) or Thrift Financial Report (for thrifts) that is available at the time of the CRA examination. For example, if the current CRA examination date is January 10, 1997, and the bank's September 30, 1996, Call Report (the most recent Call Report available at the time of the examination) show total assets of $300,000,000, then you should select "100,000 - 1,000,000" as the asset range (because $300,000,000 in thousands is $300,000). If you are not sure of the institution's total assets, you should select "All" to capture all asset ranges.
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Q9. What is the definition of "PE?"
"PE" refers to "Performance Evaluation." The CRA requires each federal financial supervisory agency to use its authority when examining a financial institution subject to its supervision, to assess the institution's record of helping to meet the credit needs of its community. Upon conclusion of such an examination, the supervisory agency must prepare a written evaluation of the institution's CRA performance. This written evaluation is public information and can be obtained through the institution or its supervisory agency. While the content of the Performance Evaluation might vary depending on the nature of the institution examined and the assessment method used, the following information is generally included:
- The institution's CRA rating;
- A description of the financial institution;
- A description of the financial institution's assessment area(s);
- Conclusions of the financial institution's CRA performance, including the facts, data and analyses that were used to form such conclusions.
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