January's FDIC CRA Exams Show Healthy Lending

The FDIC conducts monthly Community Reinvestment Action (CRA) Examinations to determine whether or not banks are meeting their lending obligations in the communities they serve. The complete exam ratings are posted on the FDIC site.

But here is the cliff notes version:

O is Outstanding:
The bank is exceeding expectations for lending in their area.

S is Satisfactory:
The bank is meeting the expectations and lending well.

NI is Needs to Improvement:
The bank is lending to the community but could do better.

SN is Substantial Non-compliance:
An officer of the FDIC is probably on the phone.

What did the January 2009 report show?

Source: FDIC
















The detailed report shows East Bridgewater Saving Bank in East Bridgewater, MA needs some improvement and that the only bank reported as substantial non-compliant would be Reynolds State Bank in Reynold, IL.

So we've now established that bank failures have slowed significantly since Dec 12, 2008.
Further, the snapshot FDIC lending exam shows banks on Main St. lending well. Credit crunch... where?

For those 151 worthy lenders out there who passed the examination this month: Bank On!

(Tomorrow we'll take a look at why the new FDIC insurance policies may be able to insure your savings well beyond the published $250,000. Do you have a good news story to report? Please send them to The Editor at good.news.econ@gmail.com)