CASE STUDY

Business Need:

The bank needed to assess how well it served the needs of customers in all segments of the community in which it was located. It also needed documentation that the bank provided retail loan and deposit services to meet the needs of customers, including low to moderate income customers, in order to show compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).

Methodology:

The bank provided a list of zip codes of retail customers, by product. This list was generated in such a way that it did not disclose any individually identifiable customer data. This data was compared to Census Bureau data that contained zip code and income information over a period of time.

Deliverable:

The bank received a multiple bar graph chart of products by zip code, showing changes over time. This showed at a glance, the concentration of business in low to moderate income neighborhoods compared with other neighborhoods that the bank served.

Benefits to the Client:

The bank had a visual example of where and how they did business for their CRA file. It is a requirement of the CRA that a file be kept that is accessible to the public. The bank was pleased to have evidence that they not only complied with the letter of the regulation, but with the spirit of it, by providing services to all potential customers. This tool was also used to understand opportunities for increasing sales.