Fed Seeks Input on Updating Bank Insider Loan Rules
Published Date: 8/4/2026
Proposed Rule
Summary
The Board is inviting public comment on proposed amendments to Regulation O, which governs loans by member banks to their insiders and insiders of their affiliates. The proposed amendments would update and modernize the regulation, increase transparency by clarifying requirements and incorporating existing interpretations, and promote efficiency by reducing regulatory burden. The proposed amendments also would incorporate existing statutory requirements that are not currently reflected in the regulation. Moreover, the proposed amendments would update several outdated dollar-based thresholds in Regulation O and index these thresholds going forward. In addition, the proposed amendments would address the application of Regulation O to member banks that lend to companies that are presumed to be controlled by large asset management companies through passive investment funds. Finally, the proposed amendments would revise and reorganize the regulation to streamline the text and make it more accessible.
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 4 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
Dollar Thresholds Raised Sharply
The Board would raise several dollar-based thresholds in Regulation O: the credit card exemption from $15,000 to $60,000; overdraft-with-credit-plan exemption from $5,000 to $20,000; inadvertent overdraft exception from $1,000 to $4,000; the ‘‘other purpose’’ exception for executive officer loans from $100,000 to $400,000; and the board prior-approval and public disclosure thresholds from $500,000 to $2,000,000.
Streamlined Executive Loan Limits
The proposal would simplify limits on non‑mortgage/non‑education loans to executive officers so that such loans may be made up to the lesser of 2.5 percent of the bank's unimpaired capital and unimpaired surplus or $400,000. It would also require prior board approval when aggregated extensions to an insider exceed the lesser of 5 percent of unimpaired capital and unimpaired surplus or $2,000,000.
Five-Year GDP Indexing Rule
The proposal would automatically adjust the dollar-based thresholds every five years based on five-year cumulative nominal U.S. GDP growth (using Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates) and publish new thresholds in the Federal Register. The Board would not lower thresholds if the five-year cumulative nominal GDP growth is negative; thresholds are rounded to simple figures.
Relief for Passive Fund Portfolio Companies
The Board would exclude portfolio companies of qualifying passive fund complexes from the Regulation O presumption that those companies are related interests of a principal shareholder fund complex. This relief would apply when the fund complex demonstrates passive investment qualities (e.g., index funds).
Aggregate Counting of Exceptions
The proposed rule clarifies that dollar limits for exceptions (for example, credit-card exceptions and overdraft exceptions) apply to the aggregate of all such extensions of credit to the same insider when determining whether the dollar-based limit is met.
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Key Dates
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Previous / Next Documents
Previous: 2026-15774, Regulatory Modernization and Relief for Mutual Holding Companies
The Board invites comment on a notice of proposed rulemaking (proposal) to modernize the regulatory framework applicable to mutual holding companies (MHCs), primarily through proposed revisions to Regulation MM (12 CFR part 239), which governs the formation, operations, activities, and conversion of savings and loan holding companies in mutual form. The proposal would amend Regulation MM by, among other things, eliminating certain dividend waiver requirements, reducing burden associated with conversions from mutual-to-stock form, revising certain post-conversion restrictions, eliminating the requirement that subsidiary holding companies of MHCs obtain federal charters, and revising and clarifying other provisions of the regulation. The proposal also would amend the capital rule (12 CFR part 217) to clarify that certain mutual capital instruments may qualify as regulatory capital and to codify model term sheets for mutual capital certificates as appendices to the regulation.
Next: 2026-15782, Revision of Freedom of Information Act Regulations
The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board or Board) is issuing this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to update its regulations under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The Board proposes to replace its existing FOIA regulations with this proposed rule, which streamlines the language of several procedural provisions; updates procedures consistent with current technology; incorporates changes required by amendments to the FOIA under the OPEN Government Act of 2007 and the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, and developments in case law; and conforms to Department of Justice guidelines for agency FOIA regulations.