OCC

Banks could be a better option than payday lenders to meet consumers’ short-term credit needs. But all the OCC’s regulation does is enable partnerships that circumvent state usury laws.

The Senate Banking Committee chairman told an audience of community bankers that he supports legislation to close "chartering loopholes" for industrial loan companies and financial technology firms. He also pitched a plan to give all consumers a free digital wallet backed by the Federal Reserve.

The custody service provider, which will maintain a New York license in addition to its national charter, is one of several cryptocurrency companies to apply to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Three months into President Biden’s term, the White House has yet to select a nominee to run the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency or pick an acting chief. That inaction will make it more difficult for Democrats to unwind Trump-era policies, critics say.

The agency’s cases against David Julian, Claudia Russ Anderson and Paul McLinko, which allege culpability for the bank’s phony-accounts scandal, are scheduled to go to trial in September.

Consumer advocates say "income share agreements" like those issued by Blue Ridge Bank of Martinsville, Va., and a Boston CDFI should have to comply with laws that govern more traditional credit products.

Regulators are likely to scrap the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s divisive rule and instead pursue an interagency framework. But stakeholders commenting on a Federal Reserve draft plan say several aspects of the OCC regulation are worth keeping.

Harper is only the third member of the National Credit Union Administration board to chair the council. Blake Paulson, acting comptroller of the currency, has been appointed vice chairman.

The federal banking and credit union agencies want input about how financial institutions use artificial intelligence for credit underwriting and other purposes, and about whether additional regulatory guidance is needed.

Mehrsa Baradaran, a University of California, Irvine, professor and former banking lawyer, has worked hard to close the racial wealth gap and could further such goals as head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, wrote 34 caucus members in a letter to President Biden.

Democrats have proposed a Congressional Review Act resolution to strike down the OCC rule, arguing it enables "rent-a-bank" schemes.

Former Obama-era regulators Kara Stein and Sarah Bloom Raskin, as well as Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, have joined the field of potential nominees to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, according to sources familiar with the process.

The agency's plan would strengthen requirements that banks use a minimum amount of their real estate for the business of banking, but three grade groups say banks need flexibility in the pandemic to manage occupancy.

Many in Washington have been in suspense about whether the Biden administration would favor a former Obama official or a financial inclusion advocate for comptroller of the currency. Mehrsa Baradaran, the candidate preferred by community activist groups, appears to have the edge.

Some nominees poised to take their agencies in a new direction appear headed for Senate confirmation while an intraparty squabble has delayed the administration’s choice to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Here’s the roster update.

Michael Barr, an Obama-era Treasury Department official, is no longer expected to be nominated to lead a regulator that oversees Wall Street’s biggest banks, according to people familiar with the matter.

For the second time in three years, the Cleveland thrift has received a low score on its Community Reinvestment Act examination for making too few home loans in low-income communities.

The Boston-based bank said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency gave it the highest grade possible on its most recent Community Reinvestment Act examination. Santander had received a “needs to improve” grade in 2017 and a “satisfactory” rating in 2018.

The former comptroller of the currency, who founded the consulting firm known for its roster of ex-regulators, will hand over leadership of day-to-day activities to an operating committee as he pursues other projects.

As the bureau writes data-sharing rules, the third-party firms that work with fintechs say oversight by the agency would be more efficient — and better for consumers — than being policed by their bank partners.