Welcome to the Community Affairs Unit

The Community Affairs Unit (CAU) is responsible for the Banking Department's community education and outreach activities, exam support, and bank application reviews with respect to CRA, fair lending and other issues of concern to consumers.

• Education and Outreach Activities:

The Community Affairs Unit has primary responsibility for outreach in connection with CRA, Fair Lending and other consumer-related concerns. The CAU conducts and participates in meetings, seminars and conferences designed to share useful information and resources to banks, community organizations and consumers. The CAU also facilitates the development of partnerships to revitalize and stabilize low and moderate income communities. 

The CAU provides input on the Development of regulatory and policy initiatives that involve consumer-related concerns or effect low to moderate-income geographies in New York State.

• Examination Support Activities:

The CAU also provides a critical support to the Department’s CRA examination function by providing training and ongoing technical assistance to examination staff with regard to community development and performance context issues.

• Application Review Activities:

The CAU has responsibility for reviewing banks’ CRA and Fair Lending performance records in connection with certain applications (i.e. mergers, etc.) An application review typically involves an analysis of various data pertaining to the bank’s mortgage lending, small business and community development activities. Applications are published in the Department’s Weekly Bulletin  and assigned a 10 to 30 day comment period, depending on the Department’s policy for the specific type of application. During this time, the public is invited to submit written comments of relevance to the institutions’ CRA or Fair Lending performance.

Additionally, the CAU reviews all notices by banks to close branches, pursuant to Section 28-c of the Banking Law.

To apply for a Banking Development District click here.

For more information, refer to our homepage for existing and proposed regulations that impact CRA, Fair Lending and related activities.

Applications and Branch Closings

My local bank branch is closing. Can’t you do something about it?
In accordance with New York Banking Law 28-c, and Supervisory Procedure G 112, state-chartered institutions must give notice to the Banking Department of their intent to close a branch office at least 90 days in advance of the planned closing. In its notice, the bank must provide specific information, including, but not limited to, a statement of the reasons leading to the decision to close the branch, and a detailed map of the area served by the branch, showing the distance and direction of all remaining banks and state-licensed financial service providers. In addition, the bank must provide notice to its branch customers and post notice of its intent to close the branch on the same day that it submitted notice thereof to the Banking Department. Notice of the planned closing is published in the Banking Department’s Weekly Bulletin, commencing a public comment period. All comments are carefully reviewed and responded to by a Community Reinvestment Analyst, and public comments are shared with the bank for its response. Based on information provided by the bank and gathered from other sources, the Department is then required to make a finding of whether the closing would result in a "significant reduction of banking services" in the community to be affected. While the Department engages in substantial outreach to government officials, community groups and banking institutions in this context, it must be noted that we have no authority whatsoever to prohibit the closing of a bank branch. The Department’s outreach, however, may facilitate contact between the institution and the community, and ultimately mitigate a potentially adverse impact on the community.

While the Department performs thorough analyses of all branch-closing notifications, staff focuses on those that may impact low or moderate-income communities. If the closing branch or its service area includes low or moderate income areas, or if it appears that the closing may reduce services for residents in the community, then Department staff routinely contact local planning departments, community groups or leaders in order to: (1) learn more about the nature of the community to be affected; (2) gather other qualified opinions about the impact of the branch closing on the community; and (3) facilitate dialogue between the bank and the community about local concerns, including, but not limited to, future access to branch services, and seeking an appropriate purchaser or successor tenant for the site. In some instances, Department staff makes site visits to the closing branch’s service area. Under the appropriate circumstances, the Department may bring issues to the attention of bank management, and ask the bank to reconsider the closing, or consider taking steps to mitigate the impact of the closing.

Is there anything I can do about a planned branch closing?
Anyone may submit a letter of protest regarding the closing to the Banking Department. In any instance where a branch closing may adversely impact a community, the Department will work with community members and the bank to encourage dialogue between the two parties. The Department encourages the public to comment on a proposed closing. We often receive such comments after a patron has seen the closing notice in their branch, or has received notification by mail. Many community leaders also have a subscription to the Department’s Weekly Bulletin, which publishes all notices. Please forward your comments regarding branch closings to: Consumer Services Division, New York State Banking Department One State Street New York, NY 10004-1417

Does a Bank’s record of opening or closing bank branches affect its CRA rating?
A bank’s record of opening and closing branches is one element of the "Service Test," which assesses an institution’s record of providing retail and community development services in its community. The Department reviews not only a branch closing in low or moderate income census tracts during the examination period, but also reviews branch closings in middle and upper income tracts that are adjacent to and presumably serve low or moderate income tracts.