Welcome to the fourth issue of Monthly Deposits: MoFo’s Bank Regulatory Newsletter, which provides an overview of recent developments in U.S. bank regulation, including proposed rules, reforms, and other significant updates. Here we cover some of the key developments from the past month that our team is keeping an eye on.
On June 4, 2026, the House Committee on Financial Services held a hearing to examine supervisory and regulatory developments, rulemakings, and prudential regulatory activities of the federal banking agencies (“banking agencies”), including testimony from officials representing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). The hearing focused on the banking agencies’ ongoing efforts to tailor their regulatory frameworks, maintain financial stability, and foster innovation, including by reducing regulatory burdens and expanding access to credit.
Notably, FRB Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman discussed the opaque nature of bank lending to private credit and nonbank financial institutions and highlighted the FRB’s recent efforts to bring more transparency to how bank funding to private credit is ultimately used. Vice Chair Bowman also expressed confidence that the prudential regulators’ Basel III capital proposal will bring some of this financing back into the traditional banking system. The prudential regulators discussed ongoing efforts to reform the Community Reinvestment Act and bank merger oversight. Specifically, Vice Chair Bowman and Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould expressed support for reforms to the competitive market analysis employed during bank merger considerations. Vice Chair Bowman noted significant changes to “the competitive factors and the landscape of competition” in the banking industry, including the proliferation of fintechs and nonbanks competing against traditional financial institutions.
On June 9, 2026, FDIC Chairman Travis Hill delivered remarks to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, highlighting the agency’s work on a “significantly slimmed down” proposed rule to reform the resolution planning process for large insured depository institutions (IDIs). Under the IDI resolution planning rule, large banks must periodically file with the FDIC their proposed resolution strategies in the event of hypothetical failure scenarios. Chairman Hill has previously expressed skepticism at the value of these resolution plans, and his remarks outlined fundamental reforms to the FDIC’s approach to the IDI resolution planning process. The proposed reforms would focus the agency’s efforts on achieving “optimal resolution outcome[s]” and bolstering the FDIC’s responsiveness in the event of real-world bank failures.
Chairman Hill outlined a new “resolution readiness adjustment” to the FDIC’s deposit insurance framework for large banks, providing qualifying banks with a downward adjustment to their quarterly assessments if the bank (i) shows its ability to quickly populate a virtual data room, or (ii) provides the FDIC with temporary access to the bank’s service providers and/or internal systems for the purpose of building IT infrastructure that would enable the FDIC to quickly access the bank’s data in the event of failure. Furthermore, Chairman Hill highlighted potential reductions to the FDIC’s base assessment rates, including a reduction of approximately two basis points for smaller banks.
On June 18, 2026, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), along with the OCC, the FRB, the FDIC, and the NCUA, issued a joint proposed rule to implement the customer identification provisions of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act). Under the GENIUS Act, permitted payment stablecoin issuers (PPSIs) are deemed “financial institutions” under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and are required to maintain BSA-compliant customer identification programs (CIPs). The proposal would provide a tailored regulatory regime, and apply additional anti-money laundering obligations to PPSIs to mitigate the risk of illicit finance infiltration.
Specifically, the proposed rule would require PPSIs to establish and maintain a written CIP, tailored to the PPSI’s size, customer base, and risk profile, including:
Comments on the proposed rule are due by August 21, 2026.
On June 22, 2026, the U.S. Senate passed a substitute version of H.R. 6644, the “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act,” which is comprehensive housing legislation that includes several significant banking law provisions. On June 23, 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Senate’s substitute. However, on June 24, 2026, President Trump cancelled a signing ceremony for the bill and indicated he would not sign it until Congress acted on his other legislative priorities. Despite this, the Speaker of the House sent the enrolled bill to the President’s desk on June 29, 2026, triggering a ten-day countdown for Presidential action on the legislation. During this period, the President may sign, veto, or refuse to sign the bill. If he does not sign or veto the bill, it will become law without his signature after ten days, on approximately July 10, 2026.
The “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act” includes several notable banking law provisions, including:
In particular, the brokered deposit provisions (Sections 901 and 902) may have a significant impact on banking-as-a-service and bank-fintech arrangements, potentially lowering the cost of these arrangements by allowing for a non-“brokered” deposit classification in certain contexts. We will continue to monitor the status of this legislation and any proposed implementing regulations from the banking agencies.
On June 17, 2026, the OCC issued a bulletin clarifying the standards for its decisions on application filings and reminding filers that it will return materially deficient regulatory applications without a decision. The OCC bulletin indicates that filings should include all necessary information, including required biographical and financial information for individuals and corporate background and financial reports for entities, as part of the initial submission to avoid such a result. The bulletin also reminds filers that the OCC will approve a filing that has favorably met the appropriate statutory, regulatory and policy criteria for the particular filing type. In addition, the OCC said it will begin to publish all denial decisions to further public awareness and understanding of the filing process.
Meanwhile, on June 29, 2026, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) issued a statement promoting de novo depository institution formation. The statement affirms the commitment of the FFIEC, and its member entities to enhancing and streamlining the de novo application process within its applicable statutory regime. The FFIEC also indicated that its members will continue efforts to reduce regulatory burden and obstacles for de novo institution formation, in order to encourage a robust and diverse financial system.