The ABA Banking Journal annually wraps the year completed and looks ahead across a range of challenges, trends and potential changes for banks and bankers, from risk to M&A and marketing to AI.

The discontinuation of penny production in 2025 caused operational challenges for banks when the regional Federal Reserve banks said they would stop accepting pennies for deposit at coin terminals. On this episode, ABA payments expert Steve Kenneally walks through the Fed’s decision, the operational challenges of the penny phaseout, ABA’s regulatory and legislative advocacy for improvements to the handling of coinage reform and ABA resources for banks, frontline staff and consumers.

Cash may not be king, but consumers have not dethroned it completely. What can U.S. banks do to handle cash more efficiently?

If Texas were an independent country, its economy would rank as the world’s eighth-largest. On this episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, Texas Bankers Association Chairman Ron Butler — who is also vice chairman and chief administrative officer of First Financial Bank — talks about the banking issues effecting Texas and the global economy.

Bank advocates expect 2026 to be a hectic year for state legislation, with possible bills on interchange fees, fraud, AI and more. 

A good first step for banks to confront this challenge is to focus very intentionally on intergenerational wealth management.

ABA has released its 2026 Blueprint for Growth, outlining its top policy priorities for the year ahead. Developed by ABA’s Government Relations Council, the Blueprint will shape the association’s ongoing engagement with Congress and the administration on the most important issues facing banks of all sizes, charters and business models.

While the Trump administration’s concern about affordability is commendable, a proposed 10% cap on credit card interest rates would hurt the very people the president is seeking to help, ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols told Bloomberg TV.

ABA has offered several recommendations for how the IRS should implement a new tax benefit for lenders serving rural and agricultural communities, which was included in a tax package passed by Congress last year.

ABA said it supports a proposal by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to revise licensing requirements for community banks as part of a broader effort to reduce the overall regulatory burden on the institutions.

ABA has joined four other associations to request that the FDIC push back the deadline for comment on its proposal to create a process through which banks can seek agency approval to issue stablecoins through a subsidiary.

Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould said he sees no benefit in the FDIC continuing to require filings from large banks that detail their suggested orderly resolution in case of a bank failure, known as CIDI plans. He also suggested dialing back the scope of resolution plans for the largest banks.