Community and Economic Development

The Federal Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) was enacted in 1977 to encourage lending institutions to help meet the credit needs of the local communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, in which they are located. In other words: "Banks should make loans in areas where they are taking deposits." After 34 years, the regulation has expanded to include provisions for making community development loans, purchasing of supporting investments, branching activity, and providing services to the community as well.

CRA professionals are located in each affiliate and are responsible for reaching out to determine the credit needs of consumers and businesses in those areas. This information is invaluable in helping Fifth Third Bank to design lending and deposit products that best serve the needs of the community. Additionally, the CRA leadership team is comprised of professionals located at the Bank.

Responsible for overseeing the Bank's compliance with the technical requirements of CRA by ensuring accurate and timely CRA data collection, analysis, and reporting to internal and external stakeholders.

Responsible for overall CRA performance, specifically through the performance of the affiliate CRA managers who actively manage community activities in each affiliate.

Responsible for leading CRA initiatives across the organization, with particular focus on outreach efforts that impact our entire footprint.

Responsibilities include developing and executing strategic responses to critical community development needs, as well as tactical responsibilities for executing such improvement plans and programs.

Fair and Responsible Lending (FRL) works to ensure that all current and prospective customers are treated equally, regardless of race, sex, age, or other prohibited basis. Additionally, we work to ensure that all customer dealings are equitable and transparent and in no way deceptive, misleading, or abusive. To achieve this objective, we partner with applicable lines of business to establish goals, provide guidance, and assess performance. Fair and Responsible Lending is comprised of employees with varied responsibilities who form the Compliance, Assessment and Examination teams.

Comprised of Fair and Responsible Lending Officers who are assigned to specific business lines. They have responsibility for addressing any relevant FRL issues related to the applicable business line. This is accomplished by partnering with business line management to assess the risks associated with activities within the business line, including any new products and/or initiatives. The compliance team also includes an Education and Communication Consultant who has responsibility for providing Bank employees with educational resources needed to mitigate FRL risk.

Comprised of Analysts aligned with the Reporting and Risk Assessment function, as well as Examiners. These employees have responsibility for generating reporting to communicate problem areas, completing comprehensive risk assessments to identify risk exposure, and performing testing to identify issues. Finally, the Examiners have responsibility for simulating the regulatory exam process to further identify risk areas.