Is the Community Reinvestment Act in Need of Further Reform? Evidence from Equity Markets during the 1995 Reform Process

In May 1995 the Federal Banking Agencies adopted major reforms to the implementation of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to make the examination process more objective and performance-based, promote consistency, and reduce regulatory burden. This study presents tests of excess stock returns around key events in the reform process and examines whether the patterns of returns were affected by financial institution type and size. While we find that portfolios of banks and thrifts recorded statistically significant excess returns for certain events, the cumulative response was mostly statistically insignificant. A policy implication of our findings is that the potential for further improvement in the administration of CRA requirements still existed following the 1995 reform efforts.