OCC

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks’ focus on allowing fintech firms into the federal banking sphere appears to have a more ambitious and risky goal: redefining the agency’s regulatory focus.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks and Department of Financial Services Superintendent Linda Lacewell stuck to opposing scripts on whether federal or state regulators are best equipped to protect consumers and supervise new entrants into the banking system.

In a sharp escalation of the battle over the future of the dual banking system, the acting chief of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency suggested that states should defer to federal authority in supervising global money transmitters.

The regulatory road ahead is as uncertain and risky to banks as the pandemic.

The OCC’s efforts to bring the technology into the financial mainstream could help people in underserved communities execute payments more securely.

Backers of lawsuits challenging federal charter and interest rate policies for nonbanks say states are sticking up for consumer protection. Others say the legal quagmire could slow efforts to improve the regulatory framework.

The division asked for public feedback as it weighs changes "to reflect emerging trends in the banking and financial services sector."

The Justice Department alleges that the bankers worked with “higher-ranking bank officials” at Washington Federal Bank for Savings in Chicago to falsify records and hide funds before the bank's December 2017 collapse.

Even as the bank’s sales practices faced intense government scrutiny following the Wells Fargo scandal, senior leaders in Oregon were fostering a culture that valued credit-card sales above all else, according to several former employees.

Even as the bank’s sales practices faced intense government scrutiny following the Wells Fargo scandal, senior leaders in Oregon were fostering a culture that valued credit-card sales above all else, according to several former employees.