CRA Small and Intermediate Bank Asset Thresholds Updated for 2026

Fed Banking Regulation

Published January 7th, 2026

Detected March 14th, 2026

Summary

The Federal Reserve Board and FDIC announced updated asset-size thresholds for Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) small and intermediate banks for 2026. These annual adjustments are based on inflation, ensuring the thresholds reflect current economic conditions.

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What changed

The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) have released the annual updates to the asset-size thresholds for "small banks" and "intermediate small banks" under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations, effective for 2026. A small bank is now defined as an institution with assets less than $1.649 billion, and an intermediate small bank has assets between $412 million and $1.649 billion, as of December 31 of the prior two years. These adjustments are made annually based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).

Financial institutions classified as small or intermediate small banks will be examined under specific CRA procedures. While these updates are routine annual adjustments, banks should ensure their internal classifications and reporting align with the new thresholds for the 2026 examination cycle. The notice was published in the Federal Register on January 7, 2026, and the thresholds are in effect through December 31, 2026.

What to do next

Verify internal asset-size classifications against the new 2026 CRA thresholds.
Ensure compliance reporting reflects the updated thresholds for the 2026 examination cycle.

Source document (simplified)

Joint Press Release

December 30, 2025

Agencies release annual asset-size thresholds under Community Reinvestment Act regulations

Federal Reserve Board
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
For release at 11:00 a.m. EST
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- The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation today announced the 2026 updated Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) "small bank" and "intermediate small bank" asset-size thresholds.

The CRA regulations establish the framework and criteria by which the relevant agencies assess a financial institution's record of meeting the credit needs of its entire community, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound operations. Financial institutions are evaluated under different CRA examination procedures based upon their asset-size classification. The asset-size thresholds are adjusted annually based on the average change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), which is a measure of inflation.

As a result of the 2.51 percent increase in the CPI-W for the period ending in November 2025, the CRA asset-size thresholds for small banks and intermediate small banks are:

A small bank is an institution that, as of December 31 of either of the prior two calendar years, had assets of less than $1.649 billion.
An intermediate small bank is a small institution with assets of at least $412 million as of December 31 of both of the prior two calendar years and less than $1.649 billion as of December 31 of either of the prior two calendar years.
These thresholds are in effect from the latter of January 1, 2026 or the date of publication in the Federal Register through December 31, 2026. A list of the current and historical asset-size thresholds is available here.
Federal Register notice: Community Reinvestment Act Regulations Asset-Size Thresholds