The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released its Spring 2026 Semiannual Risk Perspective this week, covering the condition of the federal banking system through year-end 2025 and first quarter 2026 earnings. The headline finding: bank earnings improved in 2025, supported by loan growth and declining funding costs, and balance sheets remain strong with capital ratios and liquidity high by historical standards.
Credit risk across OCC-supervised institutions is described as manageable. Modest increases in past-due loans have been observed in some consumer portfolios, but the OCC states that supervised banks have manageable exposures to borrowers with weaker credit profiles. The report does not break out equipment finance or lease receivables as a separate category, which is consistent with prior editions.
The two credit segments the OCC flags for ongoing monitoring are commercial real estate lending and private credit markets. Refinancing risk in both segments is the specific concern. For equipment finance companies that operate alongside or within bank holding structures, the CRE exposure at parent institutions affects credit appetite, capital allocation, and the willingness to grow non-real estate commercial portfolios. When a bank's CRE book is under regulatory scrutiny, equipment finance programs are rarely the first priority for incremental capital.
On the operational side, the OCC identifies cyber threats and fraud as persistent concerns, noting that cybercriminal groups targeting the financial sector are increasingly sophisticated and that foreign state-sponsored actors remain active. Banks continue to face challenges from elevated fraud and scam volumes. The report specifically notes that AI tools assisting with cybersecurity functions require sound risk management frameworks, a signal that regulators are beginning to formalize expectations around AI deployment in bank operations.
Compliance risk rounds out the report's key themes. Geopolitical tensions are cited as increasing sanctions and money laundering risk, straining bank compliance systems and raising the potential for Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering violations. For equipment finance companies that fund transactions with international counterparties or equipment destined for export, the BSA/AML compliance environment at their bank funding partners is tightening.
The OCC report does not address equipment finance or commercial leasing directly. What it does address is the operating environment of the banks that fund, own, or partner with equipment finance operations. That environment in Spring 2026 is stable but not relaxed. Credit is manageable. Capital is adequate. The pressure points are in CRE, private credit, fraud, and compliance. Equipment finance programs that sit inside institutions with concentrated CRE exposure or elevated fraud losses will feel those pressures in credit committee decisions before they see them in any public filing.