HR6551-119

What This Bill Does

The New BANK Act of 2025 creates annual transparency reports for the main entry points into banking and credit-union markets. The Comptroller of the Currency must report how many national bank and federal savings association charter applications were received, preliminarily approved, finally approved, denied, withdrawn, expired, mooted, or returned, plus mean and median approval times and common reasons applications fail.

The National Credit Union Administration must publish similar numbers for federal credit union charters, including applications approved, denied, withdrawn, inactive, or returned pending resubmission. The Federal Reserve Board must report application data for top-tier depository institution holding companies. FDIC must report deposit insurance applications. Finally, the Federal Reserve, FDIC, and NCUA must jointly consult state banking and credit-union regulators and publish state-by-state application counts, approval times, and reasons for denial or withdrawal for state depository institution and state credit union charters.

Who Benefits and How

Prospective national bank organizers benefit because OCC approval timelines and failure reasons become visible before they file. Prospective federal credit union organizers benefit from public NCUA data on charter outcomes and timing. New bank organizers seeking FDIC deposit insurance benefit because FDIC must disclose approval rates and common reasons applications are denied or withdrawn. Bank holding company applicants benefit from Federal Reserve statistics on holding-company application timelines. State-chartered bank organizers and state credit union organizers benefit from state-by-state comparisons that reveal where charter review is faster or slower.

Who Bears the Burden and How

OCC licensing staff must track and publish detailed charter application statistics. NCUA chartering staff must report federal credit-union application outcomes and timing. Federal Reserve holding-company review staff must compile annual application data and denial reasons. FDIC deposit-insurance staff must publish insurance application metrics. State banking regulators and state credit union regulators must provide data for the joint state-charter report. Regulators with slow or opaque processes may face pressure from Congress and applicants.

Key Provisions

• Requires OCC to publish annual statistics for national bank and federal savings association charter applications.
• Requires NCUA to publish annual statistics for federal credit union charter applications.
• Requires the Federal Reserve Board to report top-tier depository institution holding-company applications.
• Requires FDIC to report deposit insurance application outcomes and timing.
• Requires joint federal reporting, after state consultation, on state depository institution and state credit union charter applications.
• Requires mean and median approval times and common reasons for denial, withdrawal, expiration, inactivity, or return.
• Defines state depository institution, state bank, state savings association, and state credit union for the state-charter report.