2026 AICPA Banking and Credit Union Conferences, Day 1

The 2026 American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Conference on Banks and Savings Institutions and the AICPA Conference on Credit Unions are underway, co-located in Washington, D.C. As in prior years, these conferences highlight the current accounting and financial reporting landscape for financial institutions. Panelists from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), and prudential regulators provide thoughts on current policy matters, and industry experts deliver keynote presentations on a wide range of topics, from current economic analyses to the growing adoption of AI at organizations. This special edition of Take Into Account highlights quick takeaways from day one’s sessions.

• Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, described gross domestic product (GDP) growth as tenuous, noting headwinds stemming from deglobalization and tailwinds coming from AI. Moody’s forecasts GDP growth of 2.12% in 2026 and 1.90% in 2027. Zandi framed emerging risks as largely to the downside.
• Rob Nichols, CEO of the American Bankers Association (ABA) described the banking sector as fundamentally strong, with solid capital, liquidity, and profitability, while identifying commercial real estate, consumer credit, interest rate risk, and fraud as the four primary risks currently in focus. Regarding digital assets, a central policy issue for the ABA is closing a perceived loophole that could allow stablecoin affiliates or exchanges to offer yield, interest, or rewards even when issuers cannot. ABA’s position is that bank-like products should be subject to comparable supervision and consumer protections.
• Naghi Khaled, associate director for the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Office of Examination and Insurance, emphasized that the NCUA’s deregulation project is intended to streamline rules and move prescriptive items into guidance where appropriate, but not to relax safety and soundness expectations. Credit union examiners will continue to apply a risk-focused approach, with heightened attention on balance sheet and lending risk, Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering, fraud and payment controls, cybersecurity, third-party risk, AI governance, and board-level oversight.
• The SEC chief accountant and deputy chief accountant advocated for a more proactive and collaborative reporting environment, emphasizing greater preparer involvement in the standard-setting process to give standard-setters a better view of the true costs and challenges of implementation and suggesting an increased use of pre-clearance and consultation processes to resolve complex issues up front. They also encouraged issuers to revisit their quarterly disclosure practices, as existing interim reporting requirements generally focus on material changes from the prior year-end. A focus on required disclosures might improve financial reporting efficiency without any formal change in standard-setting or rulemaking initiatives.
• Panelists from the federal banking regulators signaled a broad shift toward more risk-focused, transparent, and tailored supervision, with major activity around capital modernization, matters requiring attention/matters requiring immediate attention reform, current expected credit losses (CECL) burden concerns for community banks, Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act implementation, digital asset and stablecoin questions, call report modernization, and AI readiness across the agencies.
• Of note, the SEC’s chief accountant and the federal banking regulators noted significant interest in the FASB's comments on the CECL post-implementation review during the second day of the conference.

As in prior years, Crowe will publish more fulsome takeaways from each conference in the coming weeks. Please visit Take Into Account for current accounting standards, financial reporting, and regulatory insights.

Portions of AICPA materials reprinted with permission. Copyright 2026 by AICPA.
FASB materials reprinted with permission. Copyright 2026 by Financial Accounting Foundation, Norwalk, Connecticut. Copyright 1974-1980 by American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.