Following last year’s transformative year in community banking advocacy marked by significant tax and regulatory relief, ICBA and community bankers entered 2026 prepared for a more challenging political landscape.
While the community banking industry has continued to achieve historic policy successes during the first half of this year, the current environment has nonetheless required forceful pushback from ICBA and our grassroots advocates.
As we reach this year’s midway point, here are six key community bank policy successes of the first six months of 2026—as well as the priority issues that will continue to demand strenuous advocacy outreach during the second half of the year.
The Industry’s Landmark Policy Successes
1. The 1071 final rule’s community bank exemptions
Aligning with ICBA’s years-long advocacy on the CFPB’s small-business reporting requirements, the bureau’s final rule exempts the vast majority of community banks, while we continue working to address the underlying 1071 statute in Congress.
2. Regulatory relief legislation
Congress has made significant progress on statutory relief, with the House-passed ROAD to Housing Act addressing custodial and reciprocal deposits, the exam cycle, de novo applications, and more. On the heels of a successful ICBA Capital Summit featuring more than 300 meetings with congressional offices, we continue working to get this bill through the Senate while advancing the significant relief included in the committee-passed Main Street Capital Access Act, FAIR Exams Act, and TAILOR Act.
3. Ongoing relief at the agencies
While last year’s success on overturning overdraft restrictions, raising audit and reporting thresholds, reducing BSA/AML burdens, and more set a high bar, ICBA has not let up on the gas this year in advocating before the banking agencies. An ICBA-supported final rule codifies the elimination of reputation risk from regulators’ supervisory programs, and the FDIC and OCC are working to establish independent supervisory appeals offices.
With a March executive order directing agencies to consider additional reforms, including to CFPB mortgage rules and Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data collection and disclosure standards, we are working to obtain additional relief this year.
4. Capital relief through lower CBLR
In addition to reg relief, regulators enacted capital relief via a final rule that reduces the Community Bank Leverage Ratio from 9% to 8%, as long advocated by ICBA. Meanwhile, we continue supporting legislation to lower the CBLR to a range of 6%-8% and authorize its use by banks with up to $15 billion in assets.
5. Farm bill passage
This year’s House passage of the Farm, Food, and National Security Act is an important step to completion of a new farm bill. It builds on last year’s enactment of the ICBA-advocated ACRE Act policy that makes 25% of interest income on agriculture and ranch real estate loans exempt from federal taxation, though we’ll continue opposing any expansion of the Farm Credit System’s authorities to engage in non-farm financing.
6. Cracking down on cybercrime and fraud
President Donald Trump’s Cyber Strategy for America and executive order on combating cybercrime, fraud, and predatory schemes represent a much-needed commitment to hardening our financial and digital systems against cyber threats, while sustained advocacy has led to progress in the battle against check fraud.
With artificial intelligence raising new vulnerabilities, ICBA engaged with the White House and succeeded in securing invites to meetings to discuss new AI threats that previously had been extended only to the largest financial institutions. ICBA has also engaged the Treasury Department, Project Glasswing participants, community bank vendors, and other organizations while releasing a new Community Bank AI Security Readiness Guide to help community banks navigate the current threat landscape.
Key Challenges Remain
1. Threats from stablecoin yield and nonbank entities
The current favorable environment for digital assets platforms and other nonbank competitors seeking bank-like powers without bank-like regulation has led to all-hands-on-deck battles over stablecoin yield, Federal Reserve master account access, and the OCC’s redefined national bank trust charters—with a new ICBA advocacy campaign warning of the risks posed by the crypto sector’s unpopular push for less accountability.
While we push for a stronger prohibition on payment stablecoins’ ability to pay interest and yield as the debate over the Clarity Act continues, we are urging policymakers to pause new policies on these issue areas to ensure “like risk, like regulation” for nonbank entities. We also continue pushing back against the FDIC’s approval of new industrial loan companies from Edward Jones, Stellantis, and others while working to advance bipartisan Senate legislation to close the ILC loophole.
2. Keeping up the push for credit union parity
We’ve seen growing policymaker interest in the credit union tax exemption in recent years, including via an ICBA-supported National Credit Union Administration proposal to facilitate credit union conversions to mutual banks, which is in line with our guide to conversion. To keep up the momentum, this year we unveiled our “Illusionists” advocacy and marketing campaign to pull back the curtain on growth-obsessed credit unions, complementing our data analysis on how credit union acquisitions of community banks are harming local communities.
3. Defending CDFIs
Amid a Treasury Department review of community development financial institutions and ongoing challenges to the CDFI Fund’s budget, ICBA has worked hard to address these political pressures and ensure policymakers understand the role of these institutions in serving local communities. While policymakers have released withheld 2025 funding and fully funded the CDFI Fund for 2026, ongoing engagement on this critical sector will remain essential.
4. The threat of credit card restrictions
Despite repeated success in fighting off Durbin-Marshall credit card routing mandates and misguided efforts to impose a credit card rate cap, these threats remain at the federal and state levels. ICBA and state community banking groups have commended Colorado’s veto of an unworkable interchange law, supported the Illinois General Assembly’s vote to delay its misguided law by another year, and backed OCC efforts to preempt state restrictions, and we will keep fighting federal and state threats to community bank credit card services.
The Way Forward
With our industry squaring off against these high-stakes challenges every day, we will have to remain connected and fully engaged to ensure success. But in reviewing our latest advocacy wins—with some requiring years of hard work—we see a track record of strength and achievement that is up to us to sustain through the second half of this year.
Thank you for all you have done to move the ball forward on so many critical issues. And let’s keep up the hard work to ensure our industry can continue helping Main Street communities thrive.
Rebeca Romero Rainey is president and CEO of ICBA.
