OCC Bulletin 2026-26 | June 16, 2026

Minority Depository Institutions: Reissuance of Policy Statement

To

Chief Executive Officers of All National Banks, Federal Savings Associations, and Federal Branches and Agencies; Department and Division Heads; All Examining Personnel; and Other Interested Parties

Summary

The Office of the Comptroller (OCC) is updating its policy statement on minority depository institutions (MDI) in the Federal Register.¹ This update relates to the agency’s rescission or amending of certain regulations that are unnecessary, based on anything other than the best reading of the underlying statutory authority, or lacking clear statutory authority, consistent with Executive Order 14219, “Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Initiative” (EO 14219).² The updated statement revises the definition of an MDI to more closely align with the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA).³ The update also removed information about the agency that has proven vulnerable to obsolescence. The document includes other conforming edits.

Note for Community Banks

This bulletin applies to all OCC-supervised banks.

Highlights

Consistent with EO 14219, the updated MDI policy statement bases the MDI definition more on the statutory definition while describing how the OCC may maintain the designation of current MDIs.
The updated statement also replaces references to specific OCC structures and resources with general directions that are unlikely to become obsolete.

Background

The OCC conducted a review of its existing regulations for consistency with the criteria set out in EO 14219, which requires agencies to review all regulations subject to their sole or joint jurisdiction for consistency with law and administration policy. Among other criteria, EO 14219 requires agencies to identify regulations that (1) are based on anything other than the best reading of the underlying statutory authority and (2) implicate matters of social, political, or economic significance that are not authorized by clear statutory authority. From this review, the OCC is updating the MDI policy statement to better align the MDI definition in the statement with the statutory definition. For national banks and Federal stock savings associations, the statute defines an MDI based on ownership by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and the statute does not specify any group of individuals that is presumed to be socially and economically disadvantaged. The revised MDI policy statement also describes how the OCC will maintain the designations of current MDIs. Under the previous version of this policy statement, the OCC could at its discretion continue to designate a bank as an MDI under certain circumstances when the bank no longer met the statutory definition of an MDI. The updated definition and maintained designations improve the policy statement’s consistency with FIRREA and minimize disruption to current MDIs. Separate from the definition and the maintenance of designations, the previous version of the policy statement includes references to certain OCC resources and programs that are now obsolete. The OCC created the previous version in part because it updated out-of-date information. A lesson learned from these revisions is that the policy statement should minimize the amount of information that could be subject to obsolescence. This minimization improves the policy statement’s expected longevity and avoids future confusion. Individuals and institutions with questions about OCC resources and programs should contact their supervisory field office.

Further Information

Please contact Emily Boyes, Counsel, or Collin Berger, Attorney, Chief Counsel’s Office, at (202) 649-5490.

Adam J. Cohen
Senior Deputy Comptroller and Chief Counsel