With the pending change in administration and the start of the 119th Congress, the American Bankers Association today released its 2025 Blueprint for Growth outlining ABA’s top policy priorities for the year. The Blueprint was developed by ABA’s Government Relations Council, with members representing banks across the industry, and approved by the association’s board of directors. The document will be shared with every member of Congress and with officials in the incoming Trump-Vance administration.
“2025 will be a year of significant change that we hope will offer an opportunity to reset the conversation around banking regulation,” ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols said in a statement. “This year’s Blueprint for Growth reflects the input and real-world perspective of bank leaders from across the nation, and it will guide our work to advance policies that help grow our economy and empower America’s banks to best serve their customers, clients and communities.”
The Blueprint focuses on three overarching policy priorities: Drive a healthy economy for all, pursue rational regulation to preserve Main Street access to credit and capital, and foster a competitive financial services market.
Drive a Healthy Economy for All
Tax policy. Pursue pro-growth tax policy that encourages investment and expands opportunity for all Americans by ensuring a competitive corporate tax rate and continuing the Section 199A pass-through deduction, a provision that enables many community banks to play a vital role in local economic development.
ACRE. Enact the Access to Credit for our Rural Economy Act, which will sustain and grow rural America by lowering the cost of credit for farmers and ranchers financing agricultural real estate as well as the cost of homeownership in 17,000 rural communities.
Mission-driven banks. Support the work of Minority Depository Institutions and Community Development Financial Institutions — banks that are uniquely focused on serving communities of color and low-to-moderate income communities — by creating a CDFI investment tax credit that would incentivize long-term capital investment in these vital institutions.
Housing. Approach housing policy holistically by supporting initiatives that create equitable, affordable and sustainable housing opportunities across all communities while ensuring liquidity to primary and secondary markets, including through government-sponsored enterprises and the Federal Home Loan Banks.
Fraud. Pursue an “all of government” approach to combatting financial fraud to protect consumers and reduce the number of Americans who fall victim to scams.
Pursue Rational Regulation
Small-business lending data collection (Section 1071). Work to repeal Section 1071 while calling on the CFPB to pause implementation and begin a process to formally withdraw the rule as we pursue ongoing litigation.
Interchange (Durbin Amendment). Oppose government mandates on credit card routing and urge the Federal Reserve to put low- and moderate-income consumers before the needs of large retailers by withdrawing its proposal to impose misguided debit card price controls that will raise the cost of basic checking accounts.
Community Reinvestment Act. While continuing our litigation, advocate against agency overreach and for a modernized CRA rule that encourages bank lending to low-and moderate-income individuals and communities.
Bank capital. Provide a “quantitative impact study” and other data analysis that show the true cost to the economy of proposed higher capital standards, which would allow stakeholders to evaluate potential impact on credit availability for specific sectors, including low- and moderate-income borrowers.
SAFER banking. Pass the SAFER Banking Act to get state-sanctioned cannabis cash off the street and into regulated financial institutions, making our communities safer and the cannabis industry more transparent to regulators, tax authorities and law enforcement.
Open banking (Section 1033). Delay implementation and finalize a CFPB rule to supervise data aggregators before significantly overhauling the 1033 rule to address scope, liability and cost.
Credit card programs. Delay implementation and withdraw the CFPB’s rule on credit card late fees to preserve access to credit for low-and moderate-income borrowers as litigation remains active.
Foster a Competitive Financial Services Market
Deposit insurance reform. At a minimum, lawmakers should give the FDIC the authority and flexibility it needs to enable a timely response to crises, ensuring fair treatment across banks of all sizes and reducing reliance on the systemic risk exemption.
Credit unions. Scrutinize whether credit unions are meeting their statutory objective of serving low-to-moderate-income communities in a robust, demonstrable way that justifies their preferential tax treatment over community banks and evenly apply regulatory requirements, including the Community Reinvestment Act, to banks and credit unions.
Digital asset regulation. Bring stablecoins inside the banking regulatory perimeter, and require equivalent capital, liquidity and consumer protection standards across all stablecoin providers, ensuring banks are not disincentivized relative to nonbank providers and have the regulatory clarity they need to custody digital assets.
National bank preemption. Defend the dual banking system, a pillar of economic strength that spurs innovation and empowers banks to serve every market in the United States, from states’ efforts to assert authority over basic operations of national banks, including decisions about deposit taking, lending and risk management.
