ICBA Urges OCC to Preserve Dedicated Supervision for Community Banks

Washington, D.C. (April 16, 2025) — Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey issued the following statement in opposition to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s announced decision to merge its community, midsize, and large bank supervision functions into a single line of business.

“As policymakers continue to call for stronger safeguards in financial oversight, it is counterintuitive to consolidate supervisory approaches across institutions with vastly different business models and risk profiles. This change marks a step in the wrong direction and contradicts the agency’s own stated commitment to tailoring supervision based on a bank’s size, complexity and risk profile—rather than applying a one-size-fits-all model.

“Merging supervisory functions threatens to dilute the nuanced oversight that effective community bank supervision requires, jeopardizing the tailored regulatory approach that community banks require and deserve.”

“Community banks are not megabanks. They operate with fundamentally different risk profiles and business models. Effective supervision must be tailored—not standardized—based on the size, scope and complexity of our nation’s financial system.”

ICBA urges the OCC 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.

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.