Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey issued the following statement after a new acquisition of a tax-paying community bank in Arizona by a tax-exempt credit union.

The numbers don’t lie: fraud losses are on the rise, with 61% of financial organizations reporting direct losses of over $500,000 in a 12-month period. In addition, 52% of mid-market organizations have pointed to an increase in attempted fraud events.

ICBA Payments is committed to ensuring that community banks keep pace with innovation in the payments space. When FedNow launched, ICBA Payments partnered with market leader, Pidgin, to ensure that banks had a community bank-minded option for instant payments.

For community banks and their customers, options are key. Just as no two communities are alike, no two community banks are the same, so we need the flexibility to create solutions that meet our customers’ needs.

Eric Kirchner joined the team in January 2025 as senior vice president, strategic finance. In this role, he contributes to the financial modeling and forecasting for all aspects of the ICBA Payments business. Eric offers insight into his duties, industry experience, and what he’s most excited about regarding the future of ICBA Payments.

A legal team can play an important role in helping community banks devise a watertight succession plan that adheres to its corporate guidelines, according to the latest Independent Banker magazine.

Several ICBA members last Friday participated in a roundtable discussion with Treasury Secretary Bessent.

ICBA is reminding community bankers of the Fedwire Funds Service’s upcoming conversion to the ISO 20022 message format.

Registration is now open for ICBA’s LEAD FWD Summit, scheduled for Sept. 8-9 in Bloomington, Minn.

Second estimate for Q1 GDP out Thursday

Community bankers can reserve a date for a private or group visit during the ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator program.

ICBA and other groups called for the Securities and Exchange Commission to rescind its cyber incident disclosure rule.

The House of Representatives passed its “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” legislative package, which includes several ICBA tax priorities.

The House Financial Services Committee announced hearings and a markup for June

ICBA Innovation and the Center for Accelerating Financial Equity (CAFE) Fintech Accelerator are holding a complimentary webinar next week on using innovation to support underserved populations and drive community growth.

During a two-day markup, the House Financial Services Committee advanced two ICBA-advocated bills to provide regulatory relief to community banks.

ICBA and other trade groups expressed opposition to an amendment to the GENIUS Act that would impose government price controls on credit card products.

ICBA is calling on community bankers to contact their members of Congress after legislation to allow large merchants to expand the power of the federal government to intervene in the U.S. credit card market was reintroduced in the Senate.

The FDIC said it projects that the Deposit Insurance Fund reserve ratio remains on track to reach the statutory minimum of 1.35% ahead of the statutory deadline of Sept. 30, 2028.

The FDIC board of directors approved the rescission of the agency’s 2024 Statement of Policy on Bank Merger Transactions and the reinstatement of its statement of policy in effect prior to 2024.