Press Releases

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today proposed sweeping changes to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) that would drastically weaken banks’ obligation to meet the credit needs of low- and moderate-income communities.

The letter outlines the unacceptable risks for low- and moderate-income communities, consumers and small businesses, as well as the safety and soundness of the financial system that would come from granting OppFi direct access to the banking system.

“Any final stablecoin rule issued by the FDIC must address what happens when money that supports local lending moves into stablecoin systems with fewer public safeguards,” said NCRC Policy Director Tara Flynn.

“Payward/Kraken was previously sued by federal agencies for mixing its funds and digital assets with its customers’ assets, and yet it now wants the government’s seal of approval to become a national trust bank,” said Tara Flynn, NCRC’s policy director.

The hypocrisy of discouraging lending to hard-working immigrants who pay taxes, while claiming that banks improperly ‘debanked’ some wealthy people based on their highly risky, often international, crypto transactions should be lost on no one.

“Access to the banking system should not be a race to the bottom. Companies that rely on the public infrastructure should be required to serve communities fairly, disclose where their money goes and meet real community reinvestment obligations,” NCRC President and CEO Jesse Van Tol.

NCRC is concerned that the bill’s stablecoin ‘yield’ prohibition may be too easy to evade. While the bill appears to prevent companies from paying consumers interest simply for holding stablecoins, it allows rewards tied to activity, loyalty, tenure and other product use.