Federal Reserve Board – Agencies release annual asset-size thresholds under Community Reinvestment Act regulations

The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation today announced the 2024 updated asset-size thresholds used to define “small bank” and “intermediate small bank” under their current Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations.

The CRA regulations establish the framework and criteria by which the relevant agencies assess a financial institution’s record of helping to meet the credit needs of its community, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound operations. Financial institutions are evaluated under different CRA examination procedures based upon their asset-size classification. The asset-size thresholds are adjusted annually based on the average change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), which is a measure of inflation.

As a result of the 4.06 percent increase in the CPI-W for the period ending in November 2023, the definitions of small banks and intermediate small banks for CRA examinations will change as follows:

• Small bank means an institution that, as of December 31 of either of the prior two calendar years, had assets of less than $1.564 billion.
• Intermediate small bank means a small institution with assets of at least $391 million as of December 31 of both of the prior two calendar years and less than $1.564 billion as of December 31 of either of the prior two calendar years.

These asset-size thresholds are effective January 1, 2024. A list of the current and historical asset-size thresholds is available here. The asset-size thresholds defined by the agencies’ October 2023 joint final rule to strengthen and modernize their CRA regulations will apply on January 1, 2026 and are not reflected in today’s announcement.