April 2026 brought continued momentum in deregulation: finalized capital relief, a scaled-back small business data rule, reduced CFPB enforcement capacity, and rescinded NSF fee guidance, alongside rapid movement on stablecoin regulation from virtually every federal agency simultaneously. For community banks, the consistent theme is a regulatory environment that is reducing
The CFPB asked the D.C. Circuit in early April to allow it to proceed with a new restructuring plan that would reduce the agency to 556 employees — a reduction of more than 50% from current levels — and argued this revised plan moots the lower court injunction that has
On April 30, the CFPB finalized a significantly pared-down version of its Section 1071 small business loan data collection rule. The rule — which implements a Dodd-Frank Act mandate to collect data on small business credit applications to aid antidiscrimination oversight — was substantially rewritten from the 2023 Biden-era version
Fintech company Mercury received conditional approval from the OCC to establish Mercury Bank NA, a national bank targeted at founders and startups. The company plans to offer Zelle payments, expanded lending, and direct payment infrastructure once the charter is finalized. Mercury still needs FDIC deposit insurance approval and Federal Reserve
The FDIC’s 2025 consumer compliance supervisory report recorded only 1,155 level 2 and level 3 regulatory violations — a seven-year low. Enforcement actions also dropped sharply, with the agency initiating 16 formal and 11 informal actions, compared to 31 formal and 23 informal in 2024. The most frequently cited violations
Federal regulators finalized the reduction of the community bank leverage ratio (CBLR) from 9% to 8%, effective July 1. The rule was adopted without dissent by the Federal Reserve, FDIC, and OCC. The agencies project that roughly 480 more banks will now qualify for the CBLR framework, expanding eligibility to
The CFPB finalized a rule on April 23 that eliminates disparate-impact liability from its regulations under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B). The rule removes the longstanding effects-based standard, under which a lending practice that is neutral on its face could be deemed discriminatory based on statistical outcomes without
The Federal Reserve issued a consent order against Community Bankshares Inc., a Georgia holding company, ordering it to stop paying dividends, halt share repurchases, and refrain from taking on new debt without prior regulatory approval. The action followed a January 2026 examination by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta that
FinCEN and OFAC issued a joint proposed rule implementing anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance requirements under the Genius Act. Permitted payment stablecoin issuers would be treated as financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act and would need to establish risk-based AML/CFT programs, file SARs, block impermissible transactions, and maintain records
FDIC Chairman Travis Hill announced the agency will propose expressly excluding payment stablecoins from pass-through insurance coverage. Hill argued that extending pass-through coverage would be inconsistent with the GENIUS Act’s directive that tokens not be “subject to deposit insurance” or marketed as federally guaranteed. What you should do: This is good
