12 CFR § 228.16 - Facility-based assessment areas.

(a) In general. A bank must delineate one or more facility-based assessment areas within which the Board evaluates the bank's record of helping to meet the credit needs of its entire community pursuant to the performance tests and strategic plan described in § 228.21.

(b) Geographic requirements for facility-based assessment areas.

(1) Except as provided in paragraph (b)(3) of this section, a bank's facility-based assessment areas must include each county in which a bank has a main office, a branch, or a deposit-taking remote service facility, as well as the surrounding counties in which the bank has originated or purchased a substantial portion of its loans (including home mortgage loans, multifamily loans, small business loans, small farm loans, and automobile loans).

(2) Except as provided in paragraph (b)(3) of this section, each of a bank's facility-based assessment areas must consist of a single MSA, one or more contiguous counties within an MSA, or one or more contiguous counties within the nonmetropolitan area of a State.

(3) An intermediate bank or a small bank may adjust the boundaries of its facility-based assessment areas to include only the portion of a county that it reasonably can be expected to serve, subject to paragraph (c) of this section. A facility-based assessment area that includes a partial county must consist of contiguous whole census tracts.

(c) Other limitations on the delineation of a facility-based assessment area. Each of a bank's facility-based assessment areas:

(1) May not reflect illegal discrimination; and

(2) May not arbitrarily exclude low- or moderate-income census tracts. In determining whether a bank has arbitrarily excluded low- or moderate-income census tracts from a facility-based assessment area, the Board takes into account the bank's capacity and constraints, including its size and financial condition.

(d) Military banks. Notwithstanding the requirements of this section, a military bank whose customers are not located within a defined geographic area may delineate the entire United States and its territories as its sole facility-based assessment area.

(e) Use of facility-based assessment areas. The Board uses the facility-based assessment areas delineated by a bank in its evaluation of the bank's CRA performance unless the Board determines that the facility-based assessment areas do not comply with the requirements of this section.