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Final round of feedback on reg burden under EGRPRA review

The OCC, FDIC, and Federal Reserve published in the Federal Register their fourth notice requesting comment on their regulations pursuant to the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996.

EGRPRA requires the federal banking agencies to review their regulations every 10 years to identify outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulations.

Under the fourth and final comment period of the current EGRPRA review, the agencies are seeking comments on banking operations, capital, and the Community Reinvestment Act. The public has 90 days from publication in the Federal Register to comment on the relevant regulations.

The agencies also said they will hold outreach meetings where interested parties may comment on applicable regulatory requirements directly to the agencies. Information about the outreach meetings will be publicized as details are finalized.

Source: Federal Banking Agencies

Bill prohibiting SBA direct lending under 7(a) program

After Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) introduced legislation to prohibit the Small Business Administration from making direct loans under the 7(a) program, ICBA sent a letter of support for the Protecting Access to Credit for Small Businesses Act.

In a letter to Scott, ICBA said:

• The SBA has a poor track record in direct lending.
• There is a strong network of community banks, community development financial institutions, and other lenders already in place to meet demand for small business borrowers.

ICBA will continue working with policymakers to maximize the effectiveness of the 7(a) program for the small businesses that community banks serve.

ICBA has repeatedly pushed back against proposals to fund SBA 7(a) direct lending, including in a 2024 letter to Scott, speaking out in congressional testimony, and publicly opposing efforts to provide funds via past budget-reconciliation bills.

Source: ICBA

Support for Fed Chair

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressed his support for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, asserting that there is no reason for him to resign amid ongoing criticism from officials in the Trump administration, Bloomberg News reported, citing Bessent's remarks on Fox Business.

Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence; Bloomberg News

House committee passes reg relief bills

The House Financial Services Committee passed several regulatory relief bills during a two-day markup.

The committee voted to advance:

• The FDIC Board Accountability Act (H.R. 3446) by a 26-23 vote. Introduced by Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), it would require the appointment of a member of the FDIC board of directors with experience in small depository institutions. 
• The Tailored Regulatory Updates for Supervisory Testing (TRUST) Act of 2025 (H.R. 4478) by a 49-0 vote. From Reps. Tim Moore (R-N.C.) and Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), this bill would raise the consolidated asset threshold from $3 billion to $6 billion for banks to qualify for an 18-month examination cycle. 
• Rep. Monica De La Cruz’s (R-Texas) Bringing the Discount Window into the 21st Century Act (H.R. 3390) by a 48-1 vote. It would modernize the Federal Reserve's discount window lending programs to improve its effectiveness as a tool for managing liquidity risk.  

Source: House Committee on Financial Services

Atlanta Fed details check fraud battle

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta said check fraud is a crime that's booming despite the ever-shrinking number of checks businesses and consumers write.

In a new article, the Atlanta Fed highlighted projects to gather information about noncash payments fraud of all types and report on consumers' experiences of fraud in check and other payment methods.

The federal banking agencies last month comments on targeting payments fraud, with a particular focus on check fraud, and recent polling conducted by Morning Consult shows Americans support policy efforts to take on the scourge of check fraud.

ICBA has strongly advocated a federal response to rising check fraud and offers resources to help community banks combat the problem. For instance, ICBA: 

• Is encouraging community bankers to order physical copies of a check fraud prevention flyer to distribute to customers.
• Is partnering with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service on these flyers and other resources, including a customizable news release available on ICBA’s Marketing Resource Center.
• In March applauded the Trump administration for working to combat the threat of check fraud by addressing the Treasury Department’s use of paper checks.
• Offers additional community banker resources—including guides on check fraud and online fraud courses—via the ICBA website.
• Hosts the Fraud subgroup on ICBA Community, which features more than 900 members dedicated to discussing fraud.  



Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta; ICBA

An article from IL Group

Top 3 Benefits of Using an Insurance Broker

"We often hear of lenders that stick with the same carriers and policies year after year because they figure it’s easier than finding a new provider.

This strategy has drawbacks, though, especially since a lender’s insurance needs inevitably change over time. When they do, the same policies no longer offer adequate protection — and what seemed easy at the time suddenly becomes really expensive".

In this article from IL Group, an ACB Associate Member, they discuss why using an insurance provider that is also a broker, might be a better way.

Click here to learn more.

Source: IL Group

Fannie and Freddie restructure

The US government could end up making $206 billion from its stake in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, only if the mortgage giants were run through receivership, Barrons.com reported, citing a report released by the Congressional Budget Office.

Meanwhile, the government-sponsored enterprises' exit from conservatorship could be sudden and quick, happening "overnight or over a weekend," much like how the government seized control of them, American Banker  reported, citing Independent Community Bankers of America's senior vice president of mortgage finance policy, Ron Haynie, in an online presentation.

Source: Barron.com; American Banker; ICBA

Defensive strategies against Interlock ransomware

The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center’s latest weekly risk summary  shares defensive strategies for community banks to use against the Interlock ransomware.

FS-ISAC said:

• The Interlock ransomware variant targets various businesses, critical infrastructure, and other organizations in North America and Europe.
• Interlock employs a double extortion model in which it encrypts systems after exfiltrating data, which increases pressure on victims to pay the ransom to get their data decrypted and prevent it from being leaked. 

Source: FS-ISAC

Community banks to see reporting relief as FDIC kicks off asset threshold agenda

Over 1500 community banks could soon have their regulatory reporting burdens lightened under a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. proposal raising certain asset thresholds.



The FDIC is taking its first step toward adjusting US banks' supervisory asset thresholds, a top priority for federal regulators' deregulation agenda. Under a proposal unanimously approved by the FDIC Board on July 15, the agency would raise the asset thresholds for certain non-statutory FDIC regulations related to audits, internal controls and audit committees.

 After more than 30 years of the dollar-based thresholds largely staying the same, the FDIC's proposal would raise the $500 million threshold to $1 billion and raise the ICFR reporting threshold to $5 billion from $1 billion. Meanwhile, various audit committee composition requirements would generally go to $1 billion from $500 million, and to $5 billion from $1 billion and $3 billion.

The FDIC estimates that 774 banks have between $500 million and $1 billion in assets, while another 752 have between $1 billion and $5 billion in assets.

The agency tabbed this as "the first of a multi-phase effort" to update thresholds, with plans to issue future threshold-related proposals and potentially coordinate with the other agencies, according to the proposal.

The rule proposes initially updating the current thresholds using historical inflation data and then updating those  thresholds every two years, or sooner if inflation rises more than 8%. Inflation would be measured using the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W).

The initial threshold updates would take effect at the start of the first calendar quarter after the final rule is adopted, and going forward, adjusted thresholds would take effect April 1 of the year of the adjustment.

Source: FDIC; S&P Global Market Intelligence

Bill to roll back 1071 requirements

Sens. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and John Boozman (R-Ark.) introduced legislation to shield community banks from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Section 1071 small-business reporting rule.

The Preventing Regulatory Overreach to Empower Communities to Thrive and Ensure Data privacy (PROTECTED) Act would:

• Exempt community banks with less than $10 billion in assets or that have originated fewer than 2,500 small-business credit transactions in each of the previous two years.
• Restrict the definition of affected small businesses to entities with gross annual revenues of less than $1 million to reduce the reporting burden.
• Require the CFPB to conduct updated cost-benefit analyses prior to the rule’s implementation.

Source: ICBA

FDIC updates rates and rate caps

The FDIC’s national rates and rate caps for savings accounts, interest checking accounts, money market accounts, and CDs have been updated and are available on the FDIC website.

Source: FDIC