John Sarbanes: “Rural Americans need the tools of the Community Reinvestment Act to ensure accountability of their local lending…”

“Rural Americans need the tools of the Community Reinvestment Act to ensure accountability of their local lending institutions. It is needed to prevent rural banks from abandoning their commitment to serve the millions of Americans living in smaller low- or moderate-income communities. Unfortunately, small commercial banks do not automatically reinvest in their local communities. It is a strong view that CRA has really brought investment back into the communities and that this has redounded to everyone's advantage, including--including--the advantage of the banks. We think that CRA has been remarkably effective in encouraging both large and small banks to look closely at market opportunities in all of the areas which they serve and in building a better relationship between the banks and the community. The result has been billions of dollars in market-rate profitable loans in urban and rural communities that historically have had difficulty in gaining access to credit. That is the basic, bottom-line message, and it is a very good message. It is a very good message for the country.”