Comptroller of the Currency
Administrator of National Banks

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, along with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of Thrift Supervision, recently announced the availability of the 2009 list of distressed or underserved nonmetropolitan middle-income geographies in which bank revitalization or stabilization activities will receive Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) consideration as “community development.”  The 2009 list incorporates a one-year lag period for geographies that were designated as distressed or underserved in 2008 but were not designated as such in the 2009 release.  Geographies subject to the one-year lag period are eligible to receive consideration for community development activities for 12 months following publication of the 2009 list.

Both the 2009 list and the 2008 list are on the Web site of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), along with the data source information used to generate the list of distressed or underserved geographies.

“Distressed nonmetropolitan middle-income geographies” and “underserved nonmetropolitan middle-income geographies” are designated by the agencies in accordance with their CRA regulations.  The criteria used to designate these areas also are available on the FFIEC Web site at www.ffiec.gov/cra/pdf/2009distressedorunderservedtracts.pdf.

For more information, please contact your supervisory office or the Compliance Policy Department at (202) 874-4428.