CRA RATINGS OF MASSACHUSETTS BANKS, CREDIT UNIONS, AND LICENSED MORTGAGE LENDERS IN 2016 MAHA's Twenty-Sixth Annual Report on How Well Lenders and Regulators Are Meeting Their Obligations Under the Community Reinvestment Act Prepared for the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance 1803 Dorchester Avenue Dorchester MA 02124 mahahome.org by Jim Campen Professor Emeritus of Economics University of Massachusetts/Boston
[email protected] January 2017 INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS Since 1990, state and federal bank regulators have been required to make public their ratings of the performance of individual banks in serving the credit needs of local communities, in accordance with the provisions of the federal Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and its Massachusetts counterpart. And since 1991, the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance (MAHA) has issued annual reports offering a comprehensive listing and analysis of all CRA ratings of Massachusetts banks and credit unions. This is the twenty-sixth report in this annual series. Since 2011 these reports have also included information on the CRA-like ratings of licensed mortgage lenders issued by the state’s Division of Banks in accordance with its CRA for Mortgage Lenders regulation. As defined for this report, there were 153 “Massachusetts banks” as of December 31, 2016. This includes not only 131 banks that have headquarters in the state, but also 22 banks based elsewhere that have one or more branch offices in Massachusetts.1 Table A-1 provides a listing of the 153 Massachusetts