The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) sued the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in federal court in Washington, D.C., on October 2, 2026, seeking to block a rule governing national trust bank charters, according to Bloomberg Law. The dispute is whether the OCC’s reading of federal law lets such banks conduct activities beyond conventional trust and fiduciary services. The case is unresolved in the materials available as of October 3, 2026.
What ICBA is challenging
Bloomberg Law reported that ICBA filed its complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and seeks to block the OCC rule. ICBA’s reported objection is that the agency is allowing national trust bank charters for crypto and other nontraditional companies to encompass banking activities beyond custody and other services traditionally associated with fiduciary trust banks. These are the challengers’ allegations, not a court’s findings. (Bloomberg Law)
The complaint itself was not available in the sources reviewed. Its case number, specific legal claims and requested injunction language therefore cannot be stated here. No merits ruling or later docket event was identified as of October 3, 2026.
What the OCC rule changes—and what it does not say
The OCC’s final rule amends 12 CFR 5.20 by replacing “fiduciary activities” with the statutory phrase “the operations of a trust company and activities related thereto,” drawn from 12 U.S.C. 27(a). The agency says the change aligns its regulation with its chartering authority and avoids confusion about whether a national trust bank can engage in activities within the business of banking. (OCC final rule, 91 FR 9977)
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In the OCC’s description, a national trust bank is a national bank whose articles limit its activities to trust-company operations and related activities. The rule does not list every crypto service that a trust bank may offer, nor does it set a minimum amount of fiduciary business. The OCC says each proposed activity must have a source of statutory authority and is assessed through the agency’s ordinary licensing review, case by case.
“The OCC will determine the source of authority for any proposed activities on a case-by-case basis as part of its ordinary review of licensing applications regarding national trust banks.”
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The agency also says the rule neither expands nor contracts its chartering authority and that deciding the scope of fiduciary, nonfiduciary or other activities was outside the rulemaking’s purpose. Those are the OCC’s explanations, not a judicial determination of what section 27(a) permits.
Where the OCC and banking groups disagree
| Issue | OCC’s position | Banking groups’ concern |
|---|---|---|
| Statutory scope | The OCC says section 27(a) addresses trust-company operations and related activities, while section 92a concerns fiduciary powers. Other nonfiduciary activities need separate statutory authority. | ICBA’s reported challenge takes issue with trust charters covering activities it views as beyond the traditional trust-bank role. |
| Fit of proposed services | The OCC says chartering authority and authority for each proposed activity are distinct questions; activities are reviewed individually. | Banking groups question whether crypto firms’ proposed business plans involve the kinds of fiduciary activities performed by national trust banks. |
| Public scrutiny | The OCC points to case-by-case review through licensing applications. | In an earlier joint comment letter, the American Bankers Association and other associations said public portions of applications did not permit meaningful public scrutiny and called charter suitability “a material question of public policy.” |
The OCC’s distinction between chartering a trust bank and approving particular activities is central to its defense of the framework. Whether that interpretation is lawful, and whether specific crypto-related services fit within it, remain disputed questions rather than resolved points in this lawsuit. The OCC’s 2026 rule discussion says national trust banks have nearly $2 trillion in assets in custody or safekeeping accounts; that figure is not a measure of crypto assets or ICBA’s assets. (OCC final rule)
Why Ripple is relevant context, not the subject of the suit
The OCC’s December 2025 conditional approval letter for Ripple National Trust Bank provides a concrete example of the charter issue. Ripple’s proposed activities included collateral-trustee and cryptocurrency-custody services in a fiduciary capacity, as well as related reserve-management services. The OCC concluded that those proposed activities were permissible under the statutes it cited. The letter also records comments from trade groups and others questioning the application and its fit with OCC precedent. (OCC conditional approval letter)
That approval helps explain why the rule matters to crypto companies and traditional banking groups, but ICBA’s lawsuit is a challenge to the OCC rule—not a ruling on Ripple’s individual charter.
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