As requested by ICBA, the Small Business Administration released a streamlined form to help community banks comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order on ensuring access to fair banking.
What It Means for Community Bankers: The form offers a template for institutions with less than $30 billion in assets to use in responding to the SBA’s directive that banks in its network report on their compliance with the debanking executive order by Jan. 5, 2026.
About the SBA Directive: Pursuant to Trump’s Aug. 7 executive order, the SBA in August sent a letter to more than 5,000 lenders ordering them to ensure they are not debanking politically disfavored people or businesses—either independently or at the direction of federal regulators—and to reinstate customers who were wrongfully denied access to financial services on the basis of political, religious, or ideological beliefs.
More on Executive Order: President Trump’s “Guaranteeing Free and Fair Banking for All Americans” executive order also directs federal banking regulators to remove the use of reputation risk in their materials and to identify financial institutions that have had policies or practices that facilitate politicized or unlawful debanking and to take appropriate remedial action.
ICBA Advocacy: ICBA worked directly with the SBA to address community banks’ unique position under the fair banking executive order and to minimize the reporting burden on community banks. In a post on X following the release of the form, ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said ICBA appreciates the SBA’s action to reflect that reality in its guidance.
ICBA View: In a national news release following the release of the executive order, ICBA distinguished community banks from larger institutions and said the community bank business model is rooted in local relationships and trust, not transaction volume or political motivations. ICBA strongly opposed “Operation Choke Point” initiatives under previous administrations, which aimed to discourage financial institutions from providing payments and deposit services to legal but politically disfavored industries.