The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on Tuesday, May 18, 2021, announced that it would “reconsider” its 2020 Community Reinvestment Act rule. The decision comes just weeks after the appointment of Michel Hsu as the agency’s acting comptroller.

Last year, CRC and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, represented by Democracy Forward and Farella Braun + Martel, filed a lawsuit against the OCC for unlawfully implementing the new rule, which would have gutted anti-redlining rules put in place under the CRA.

Paulina Gonzalez-Brito, California Reinvestment Coalition’s Executive Director, issued the following statement:

“We’re encouraged by the OCC’s decision to reconsider its harmful June 2020 final CRA rule. This decision is a vital first step toward creating a CRA that meets the needs of communities of color and low- and moderate-income communities.

“While this is a promising and significant step in the right direction for the OCC under the Biden Administration and with Michael Hsu as Acting Comptroller, these communities should have never been put through this in the first place. The rule significantly weakened anti-redlining protections and compounded generations of harm perpetrated against Black, Indigenous, People of Color.

“There is much more that needs to be done. We will continue to work closely with our members to hold the agency accountable to ensure that a new rule is put in place that is just, race-conscious and begins to dismantle the white supremacy present in our financial system.”