Thomas Curry, Comptroller of the Currency provided remarks at The Clearing House’s Annual Conference, focusing on value of strong capital, the need for liquidity, and importance of effective supervision.

Curry began by highlighting that increased capital requirements, and leverage ratio requirements that supplement these capital standards, have led to large bank holding companies being projected to remain well-capitalized under most severe stress test scenario. He argued against reduction in capital and leverage requirements. He similarly emphasized the importance of strong liquidity requirements that were implemented since the financial crisis and noted that US banks have higher revenues and higher profits than their European counterparts under the new regulations.

Curry discussed the importance of “holistic” supervision, arguing that regulators and banks must continue to improve both metrics and “soft” standards of performance. Curry mentioned a trend in some banks to separate Chairmanship of the Board from the CEO position and noted that the OCC is considering whether it would make sense for all, or all of the largest, federally supervised banks to make the same change. Curry concluded by highlighting the performance of community banks and smaller institutions alongside large institutions and noting the progress made since 2008.

View  Comptroller Curry's remarks.