The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has updated the cap on average total assets that determines if a Federal Home Loan Bank member qualifies as a "community financial institution" (CFI) to $1,239,000,000. This adjustment is based on the 1.2% increase in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) from November 2019 to November 2020, as published by the Department of Labor. The changes took effect on January 1, 2021. The aim of the adjustment is to reflect inflation and ensure that the cap is in line with current economic conditions.
Simple Explanation
The Federal Housing Finance Agency decided to change the rules about which banks are considered small enough to get special help by saying they can only have a little more than a billion dollars in total. They made this decision to keep things fair because prices for stuff have gone up a bit.