OCC Announces Additional Actions to Support Community Banks and Reduce Regulatory Burden

WASHINGTON—The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today announced supervisory and regulatory actions to reduce burden for community banks and strengthen their service as drivers of economic growth.

The OCC’s actions build on previous guidance to community banks and proposed rulemakings to tailor risk-based supervision to focus on material financial risk and prioritize reforms at community banks.

“Community banks provide the majority of small business lending and are essential to a diverse, competitive and resilient financial system,” said Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould. “Today’s actions further relieve community banks of unnecessary regulatory requirements and seek to better position them to help fuel job creation and economic development in local communities across the country.”

In separate bulletins to banks related to Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML), the OCC clarified examination procedures applicable to community banks and reduced community bank data collection requirements. Specifically, the OCC announced it is issuing supplementary guidance that tailors the agency’s application of the BSA/AML examination procedures for all community banks based on these banks’ generally low levels of money laundering and terrorist financing risk. This approach allows the OCC to consider a community bank’s risk profile rather than rely on minimum examination procedures that are unduly burdensome for banks and examiners and provide limited benefit. The OCC also announced that it is discontinuing its Money Laundering Risk (MLR) system data collection. These actions demonstrate the OCC’s efforts to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of BSA/AML compliance while reducing unnecessary burden on community banks.

The OCC also issued a request for information (RFI) to better understand how the challenges community banks face with core service providers and other essential third-party service providers affect community banks’ abilities to remain competitive. In the RFI, the OCC recognizes the vital role of community banks for the U.S. economy and seeks information on barriers community banks face in engaging with such service providers and actions the OCC could take to address these challenges.

The OCC’s work to prioritize community bank reforms is ongoing and includes work on a proposal to reduce the community bank leverage ratio requirement that will be announced soon. The OCC looks forward to continuing to partner with our interagency counterparts to further alleviate regulatory burden on community banks and unleash economic prosperity for communities these institutions serve.

Related Links

• Bulletin 2025-37, “Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering: Community Bank Minimum Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering Examination Procedures”
• Bulletin 2025-38, “Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering: Discontinuation of Annual Money Laundering Risk System Data Collection”
• Bulletin 2025-39, “Bank Activities: Request for Information on Community Banks’ Engagement with Core Service Providers and Other Essential Third-Party Service Providers”
  • Request for Information Regarding Community Banks’ Engagement with Core Service Providers and Other Essential Third-Party Service Providers (PDF)
• News Release 2025-95, “OCC Announces Actions to Reduce Regulatory Burden for Community Banks,” October 6, 2025