InfoBytes Blog
Agencies provide regulatory relief to community banks
On November 20, the Federal Reserve Board, the OCC, and the FDIC issued an interim final rule providing temporary relief from certain regulation and reporting requirements for community banking organizations. Specifically, the interim final rule—which applies to community banking organizations and financial institutions with less than $10 billion in total assets as of December 31, 2019—gives community banks relief from expanded regulation and reporting requirements that may have been triggered due to participation in federal coronavirus response programs. The agencies note that programs, such as the Paycheck Protection Program and other lending facilities, may cause rapid and unexpected increases in the community bank’s size. The agencies expect these increases to be temporary and thus, the rule states that asset growth in 2020 or 2021 will not trigger new regulatory requirements for applicable community banking organizations until January 1, 2022, at the earliest. The rule is effective upon publication in the Federal Register.