Even as many banks and housing agencies remain focused on the financial crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, two federal bank regulators plan to move forward with changes to the Community Reinvestment Act.

One day after the April 8 deadline for submitting comments on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s proposal to update the CRA, Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting said in a statement that he would move forward with the proposal and issue a final rule within the first half of the year. That time frame gives the regulators less than three months to issue the final rule.

More than 7,400 comments were received on the proposal, Otting said, noting that he had already read many of them.

“Over the last month, as the nation has managed its response to COVID-19, it has become even clearer to me that communities need even more access to lending, capital, and services during this difficult time,” Otting said. “It is our intention to craft a final rule that will encourage banks to lend and invest more in the communities they serve, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.”

The CRA has not been substantially updated since 1995, and Otting said further delay would prevent resources from “reaching those who need them most in this time of national emergency.”

The third bank regulator, the Federal Reserve, has not endorsed the OCC and FDIC proposal.