yearly low, extensions

Agencies release annual CRA asset-size threshold adjustments for small and intermediate small institutions

The federal bank regulatory agencies today announced the annual adjustment to the asset-size thresholds used to define small bank, small savings association, intermediate small bank, and intermediate small savings association under the Community Reinvestment Act ( CRA ) regulations.

The annual adjustments are required by the CRA rules. Financial institutions are evaluated under different CRA examination procedures based upon their asset-size classification. Those meeting the small and intermediate small institution asset-size thresholds are not subject to the reporting requirements applicable to large banks and savings associations unless they choose to be evaluated as a large institution.

Annual adjustments to these asset-size thresholds are based on the change in the average of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), not seasonally adjusted, for each 12-month period ending in November, with rounding to the nearest million.

As a result of the 1.62 percent increase in the CPI-W for the period ending in November 2019, the definitions of small and intermediate small institutions for CRA examinations will change as follows:

  • “Small bank” or “small savings association” means an institution that, as of December 31 of either of the prior two calendar years, had assets of less than $1.305 billion.
  • “Intermediate small bank” or “intermediate small savings association” means a small institution with assets of at least $326 million as of December 31 of both of the prior two calendar years and less than $1.305 billion as of December 31 of either of the prior two calendar years.

These asset-size threshold adjustments are effective January 1, 2020. The agencies will publish the final rule in the Federal Register. In addition, the agencies will post a list of the current and historical asset-size thresholds on the website of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (https://www.ffiec.gov/cra).