Regulators Walk Tightrope on Race in Community Lending Update

U.S. financial regulators hope that proposed changes to a federal anti-redlining law will increase public pressure on banks to boost mortgage loans and other lending to Black, Latino and other borrowers.

Community Reinvestment Act rules proposed last week by the Federal Reserve and other regulators didn’t set specific lending targets for minority borrowers in low-income areas. But the plan would incorporate public data from other fair lending laws to provide a more accurate and transparent assessment of how well the largest banks are actually doing.

The Fed, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the ...