#50: Haven’t Developed a CRA Plan Yet?

Build your CRA plan.You aren’t required under the Community Reinvestment Act to build a plan, but it’s an industry best-practice and will help take your CRA program to the next level. Keep your plan simple and don’t worry about making it perfect. Your plan can be one page or it can be 20; everything is up to you. As a general rule, you should start your plan with an overview of your CRA program. Where are you in the exam cycle? Who’s your regulator? What are some of the past year’s accomplishments? Next, list out your bank’s strategic priorities, both long and short term. Include your CRA performance goals, and make sure to mention goals for your lending, services, and investment tests (including benchmarks!), as well as goals for fee and investment income, deposits, and various business units. This is where you can set business unit goals, community development activity benchmarks and the like. This document represents your path forward. Some sections you might include are how you’re going to conduct CRA training, any applicable regulatory changes, technical compliance, public relations, and marketing. For a list of questions to ask yourself when building your CRA plan, sign up for the PDF download here: https://hub.cratoday.com/pl/2147559089. This will help you think about your CRA program and build that perfect plan to promote your program and make a difference in your community. Most of all, remember that your CRA journey is your CRA journey. Don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be, and have fun with it. Once you’ve created your CRA plan, you can share it with executive management, internal business units, the compliance department, and even CRA examiners. This will help keep everyone in your bank on the same page and set expectations throughout the company.CRA Today helps bankers master the Community Reinvestment Act, get exam ready, and change lives through the power of community development.Want to learn the CRA basics? Sign up for CRA Essentials Live! A live webinar with Linda Ezuka that shares everything you need to create a solid foundation for your CRA journey. https://hub.cratoday.com/freewebinarReady to take a deeper dive into the CRA? Join your fellow CRA enthusiasts in the CRA Hub as we navigate regulatory change, study core CRA concepts and connect as community development professionals across the nation.https://cratoday.com/hub/Are you understating your lending performance? Learn the 5 Foundational Steps to Building an Outstanding Community Development Loan Portfolio with an on-demand training workshop.https://cratoday.com/blueprint/CRA Today Website: https://cratoday.com/ Linda Ezuka, LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-ezuka-cra-today/Copyright © 2022 by CRA Today LLC(No claim to original U.S. government material)All rights reserved. No part of this podcast may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the author and publisher.This podcast is a periodic publication of CRA Today LLC and is intended to notify and inspire recipients of new developments in the Community Reinvestment Act. It should not be construed as legal advice or legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances. The contents are intended for general informational purposes only, and you are urged to consult your own attorney concerning your situation and specific legal questions you have.Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm