No CRA ‘outstandings’ issued for December, but one deemed ‘needs to improve’ by OCC

No banks received a “Community Reinvestment Act” (CRA) rating of “outstanding” in December, out of 15 banks evaluated – but 14 received “satisfactory” ratings, and one Texas bank was rated “needs to improve,” according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

In a release detailing CRA ratings “that became public” during December, the OCC said The State National Bank of Big Spring (Texas) earned the “needs to improve” rating. With $336 million in assets as of March 31, 2017, according to OCC filings, the agency classifies the bank as an “intermediate small bank.” Most of the bank’s lending (a combined 80%) is in commercial and commercial real estate (39%) and consumer (41%) loans.

The OCC report stated that the rating “needs to improve” was based on the bank’s limited lending. “(State National Bank’s) net loan-to-deposit (LTD) ratio is unreasonable with a quarterly average of 17 percent,” the report states. “This does not meet the standard for reasonableness based on the bank’s performance context and lending opportunities within the assessment areas (AAs). The lowest LTD ratio of comparable banks is 33 percent.”

However, the report also noted that the OCC “has not identified that this institution has engaged in discriminatory or other illegal credit practices that require consideration in this evaluation.”

The 14 banks and savings institutions earning “satisfactory” ratings included two additional “intermediate small banks,” three “large banks” and the balance “small banks.” Including SNB, five of the banks are in Texas, two each are in California and Ohio, and one each is in Illinois, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina and Virginia.

OCC Releases CRA Evaluations for 15 National Banks and Federal Savings Associations