Feds laud area banks’ community lending

Banks in Northern Colorado and the Boulder Valley all have passed federal audits designed to determine whether they are complying with the Community Reinvestment Act, a law passed in 1977 to encourage lending in a bank’s home community and to underserved populations.

All eight banks headquartered in the region have achieved “satisfactory” ratings when audited for compliance with the CRA since 2010. Banks typically are subject to these audits every five years, unless an audit finds that a bank is performing below expectations. If a bank gets a “needs to improve” rating, audit frequency can be increased…