On 11/20/2020, the FDIC, Federal Reserve, and OCC jointly issued an interim final rule to provide temporary relief to certain community banks whose asset size has increased in 2020 due, in large part, to their participation in government programs established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the Paycheck Protection Program. The interim final rule provides temporary relieve to financial institutions with $10 billion or less in total consolidated assets as of December 31, 2019. According to the OCC’s release, community banks that have crossed a relevant threshold generally will have until 2022 to either reduce their size, or to prepare for new regulatory and reporting standards. The interim final rule is effective immediately, but comments will be accepted for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
The OCC release can be found here.
The interim final rule can be found here.