ICBA Applauds OCC for Announced Updates to Organizational Structure

Washington, D.C. (Sept. 18, 2025) — The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) today expressed its strong support for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s announcement that it will reverse its ICBA-opposed decision to merge its community, midsize, and large bank supervision functions into a single unit.

According to today’s announcement, the OCC will structure its supervision functions into three distinct lines of business for large and global institutions, regional and midsize banks, and community banks under $30 billion in assets to facilitate a tiered and risk-based approach to supervision, effective Oct. 1.

“The nation’s community bankers strongly support today’s OCC announcement preserving tailored regulatory supervision based on the size, scope, and complexity of our nation’s financial system, as advocated by ICBA,” ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said. “We thank Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould for today’s announcement and look forward to continuing to work together to ensure tiered and proportionate regulations for the relationship-based community banking model, which is fundamentally distinct from the transaction-based model of the nation’s megabanks.”

Following April’s announcement that the OCC would merge its bank supervision functions, ICBA urged the agency to preserve a dedicated community bank supervision framework that reflects the distinct role of community banks, ensures proportionate oversight, and protects the stability, diversity, and choice that community banks uniquely provide to consumers and local economies.

Advancing tiered and proportionate regulations that will help ensure community banks continue to meet the needs of local communities is a key priority of ICBA’s “Repair, Reform, and Thrive” plan and open letter to the 119th Congress.

About ICBA
The Independent Community Bankers of America® has one mission: to create and promote an environment where community banks flourish. We power the potential of the nation’s community banks through effective advocacy, education, and innovation.

As local and trusted sources of credit, America’s community banks leverage their relationship-based business model and innovative offerings to channel deposits into the neighborhoods they serve, creating jobs, fostering economic prosperity, and fueling their customers’ financial goals and dreams. For more information, visit ICBA’s website at icba.org.