On May 20, federal merger policy took a sharp turn as the FDIC voted to rescind its 2024 merger guidelines, and the U.S. House passed a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to repeal the OCC’s 2024 merger rule....more
On May 7, the OCC issued Interpretive Letter 1184, reaffirming that national banks and federal savings associations may provide cryptocurrency custody and execution services, including through sub-custodians. The OCC...more
5/16/2025
/ Banks ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Custody ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Institutions ,
New Guidance ,
OCC ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Risk Management ,
Technology
On April 29, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Rodney Hood delivered pre-recorded remarks at the National Fair Housing Alliance’s Responsible AI Symposium. In his speech, Hood reiterated the OCC’s commitment to deploying AI...more
5/9/2025
/ Algorithms ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Banking Sector ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
OCC ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Technology
On March 28, the Federal Reserve, FDIC, and OCC jointly announced plans to rescind 2023 revisions to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations. The agencies stated they would return to the previous regulatory framework...more
On March 20, the OCC announced that it will no longer treat reputation risk as a standalone category in its supervision of national banks and federal savings associations. The decision marks a dramatic shift in the agency’s...more
On March 18, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Rodney Hood reiterated the OCC’s commitment to ensuring fair access to banking services, including for cryptocurrency firms. Speaking at a retail banking industry conference,...more
On March 7, the OCC issued Interpretive Letter 1183 and an accompanying statement affirming prior guidance regarding whether national banks and federal savings associations may engage in cryptocurrency-related activities,...more
3/17/2025
/ Banking Sector ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Interpretive Letters ,
OCC ,
Payment Systems ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Stablecoins
On February 12, the Trump administration announced Jonathan McKernan as the Director of the CFPB and Jonathan Gould as the Comptroller of the Currency. McKernan and Gould will replace Acting Directors Russell Vought and...more
On October 30, two leading fintech industry trade associations submitted comments (see comment letters here and here) in response to a joint Request for Information (RFI) issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the...more
11/4/2024
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
FDIC ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
OCC ,
Request For Information ,
Rulemaking Process
On October 3, the OCC issued Bulletin 2024-29, providing guidance for managing credit risk in connection with refinancing commercial loans.
The bulletin is directed at all banks with commercial loan portfolios, and...more
On March 21, the FDIC, Fed, and OCC jointly issued an interim final rule to extend the applicability date of certain provisions of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) final rule and requested comments on the extension. The...more
4/8/2024
/ Banks ,
Community Development ,
Community Reinvestment Act ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Lending ,
OCC ,
Rulemaking Process
On January 12, South Dakota’s Division of Banking issued a mandate setting March 31, 2024 as the deadline for all South Dakota licensed money lenders and non-residential mortgage brokers to comply with their Bank Secrecy...more
2/19/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banking Sector ,
BSA/AML ,
CFTC ,
Compliance ,
FDIC ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
FinTech ,
NCUA ,
Non-Depository Institutions ,
OCC ,
OTS ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On February 5, several trade groups, including the American Bankers Association, the Independent Community Bankers of America, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, filed suit against the Federal Reserve Board, the FDIC, and the...more
On January 2, 2024, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced “a sweeping consumer protection and affordability agenda,” what she termed as the “most significant expansion of consumer laws since 1980.” As part of that agenda,...more
On November 1, the OCC issued Bulletin 2023-34 addressing the topic of “venture lending,” referred to as “commercial loans to early-, expansion-, and late-stage companies.” According to the Bulletin, venture lending is often...more
On June 16, Michael Hsu, the Acting Comptroller of the Currency gave remarks at the American Bankers Association’s Risk and Compliance Conference about the risks of tokenization and AI on the banking industry. While...more
On June 6, the FDIC, FRB & OCC issued final interagency guidance intended to assist their respective supervised banking organizations in identifying and managing risks associated with third-party relationships and in...more
On January 27, the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) announced that it unanimously voted to deny a crypto firm’s application to become a member of the Federal Reserve System. This denial ends the crypto firm’s 27-month effort to...more
On November 29, the OCC released a revised Policies and Procedures Manual relating to the assessment of civil money penalties (“CMP Matrix”), which will be effective as of January 1, 2023. The CMP Matrix is a reference guide...more
On September 7, Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Michael Hsu, discussed the long-term threats to trust in banking in remarks at the TCH + BPI Annual Conference. Hsu provided updates on key priorities at the OCC, including...more
9/16/2022
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
BSA/AML ,
Comptroller ,
Cryptocurrency ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
OCC ,
Risk Management
On May 24, the acting Comptroller of the Currency, Michael Hsu remarked at the DC Blockchain Summit 2022 about his observations on the “deep” vulnerabilities of cryptocurrency in light of the recent market volatility and...more
The May 1 change to banks’ cyber-notification process is fast approaching. As we wrote previously the OCC, FDIC, and Federal Reserve Board implemented a final rule under which banks and their service providers must notify...more
On April 8, the acting comptroller of the currency, Michael J. Hsu, discussed many aspects of stablecoins (we previously discussed the President’s Working Group report on stablecoins and Hsu’s comments...). In his speech at...more
A few months ago, we published a post about the OCC, FDIC, and Federal Reserve Board’s final rule to improve information sharing about cyber incidents that may affect the U.S. banking system. Under the final rule, banks and...more
On March 3, Virginia passed a new bill (HB 263) permitting banks in the Commonwealth to provide its customers with crypto custody services “so long as the bank has adequate protocols in place to effectively manage risks and...more