Increased interest from banks and other stakeholders in working with minority depository institutions (MDIs) has led the national bank regulator to update and streamline its policies, procedures and programs, the agency said in a statement Wednesday.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said the increased interest in working with MDIs from banks and others following the establishment in 2020 of the agency’s Project REACh and the Emergency Capital Investment Program by Congress for COVID relief. (Project REACh – which stands for Roundtable for Economic Access and Change – aims to bring together leaders from the banking industry, national civil rights organizations, business, and technology to reduce specific barriers that prevent full, equal, and fair participation in the nation’s economy, according to the OCC.)
Those developments, the agency said, prompted the agency to review its 2013 policy statement on MDIs, which led to the revised policy statement.
For example, among other things, the revised policy statement redefines the meaning of an MDI. First, it divides the discussion of types of MDIs into subsection A (which discusses national banks and federal stock savings associations that are MDIs) and subsection B (which discusses federal mutual savings associations that are MDIs).
Second, the revised policy statement moves the discussion about previously designated MDIs into section 3 (entitled “Formation, Designation, and On-Going Review”), where all designation issues are addressed.
OCC Updates Policy Statement on Minority Depository Institutions