Powell Says Fed Working on CRA Proposals Now

Q: RE Fed regulatory policy, do bank capital requirements penalize lower income households seeking loans?

• A: An undercapitalized banking system can be a real threat to the economy, and to the greatest extent to people at the lower end of the income spectrum. Higher capital requirements are really a good thing because they allow banks to weather downturns and continue to perform the functions they perform.
• We enforce CRA. We're working on a new CRA proposal right now with the other agencies, we think it's going to be good. It will support the flow of credit to low and moderate income households.
• It's also the anti-lending discrimination statutes that we enforce. I don''t think it's capital standards at all. I think capital standards work the other way.