Arkansas banks pass federal regulatory evaluations in 2018

Priority Bank of Fayetteville was among 31 national banks, federal savings associations, and insured federal branches of foreign banks that have received a satisfactory or outstanding Community Reinvestment Act evaluations in the month of December, according to the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

Priority, which is listed as a small bank, was among the 28 banks that received a rating. The possible ratings are outstanding, satisfactory, needs to improve, and substantial noncompliance. Four Arkansas banks – Priority, Fidelity National Bank in West Memphis, First National Bank of Lawrence County in Walnut Ridge, and Malvern National Bank – all were rated satisfactory during CRA evaluations in 2018.

Each year, The Federal Reserve evaluates how well state member banks have helped meet the needs of their communities using one of five evaluation methods tailored to a bank’s size or business strategy.

Those performance evaluations are made public through an online database that can be searched using institution or exam criteria or by bank branch location. In addition, each bank is required to maintain a copy of the Performance Evaluation in its public file and make it available to customers upon request.

In 1978, in response to their statutory directive, the federal banking agencies, which include the Federal Reserve System, OCC and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), established the first CRA regulations.