I do not see what happened – and what is in the process of being gradually resolved – as a targeted attack on the sovereign risks of the euro area, but rather as questioning the fiscal policy of industrialised countries. Some countries have shown themselves to be more vulnerable than others.
By focusing the attention of regulators on this obligation and requiring that a financial institution's performance under the CRA be considered part of its application to merge or acquire another institution, the law provided a strong incentive to meet community credit needs while leaving regulators with a great deal of flexibility to improve upon the implementing regulations as markets evolved.