Community Bank Licensing Amendments: Final Rule

March 4, 2026 / Source: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is amending its rules related to policies and procedures to simplify licensing requirements for corporate activities and transactions involving national banks and Federal savings associations that have less than $30 billion in total assets and satisfy certain conditions. The final rule is intended to reduce burden on these institutions.

The final rule is effective on April 3, 2026.

The OCC’s licensing requirements generally apply equally regardless of the size of the OCC-supervised institution. The final rule modifies this approach by establishing a new definition of “covered community bank or covered community savings association” to provide such institutions access to all currently available expedited or reduced filing procedures. The OCC is adopting these changes as part of a broader initiative to tailor the regulatory framework for community national banks and community Federal savings associations, with the goal of reducing regulatory burden and tailoring requirements to the size and risk-profile of the institution. Community national banks and community Federal savings associations typically engage in lower risk and less complex activities. Accordingly, the OCC will generally be able to review filings from community national banks and community Federal savings associations more quickly. Similarly, a lower risk profile is generally correlated to a proposal more clearly meeting the evaluative factors and less likely to warrant denial. Accordingly, the OCC is expanding the existing expedited or reduced filing procedures to community national banks and community Federal savings associations that satisfy certain conditions.