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Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
By Marian Wang, ProPublica – March 29, 2010 12:51 pm EDT
The New York Times business section had a piece recently about a little-known bank regulator [1] called the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. It points out that while the Federal Reserve has shouldered most of the criticism directed toward bank regulators, because of its relative obscurity, the OCC [2] has escaped much of the scrutiny.
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John C. Dugan
The Times piece focuses mostly on John C. Dugan, the former bank lobbyist who heads the agency. It highlights criticism that Dugan is too pro-bank, and goes back and forth between criticism and Dugan’s response. Mr. Dugan bristles at the notion that he is too easy on banks and says his agency’s record on consumer protection has been “vigorous and sustained.” He says it is a “cheap shot” to suggest that his lobbying years color his viewpoint and that it demeans his employees and his years of public service. In point-counterpoint situations, what’s often helpful is hard data [3]. The Times brings it into the story later on, with statistics on the OCC’s formal enforcement orders against banks.
Assessment
The OCC has both formal and informal enforcement orders against banks. The Times’ chart shows that the agency rarely takes formal enforcement action against banks, and even more rarely doles out actual penalties to the banks in the form of fines, restitutions or refunds to consumers. The agency defended its small number of enforcement actions, saying it works closely with banks [4] to fix problems while they’re small, so as not to require stronger measures.
Conclusion
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Filed under: Breaking News, Ethics, Health Law & Policy, Research & Development | Tagged: bank lobbyist, bank regulators, banking, Federal Reserve, John C. Dugan, Marian Wang, OCC, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, ProPublica |
The Leading Business Education Network for Doctors, Financial Advisors and Health Industry Consultants 
I think Greenspan is getting senile. Today he said that you can stop asset bubbles by increasing capital requirements. That just increases the cost of credit. The next time you have a real estate bubble, you’ll have the same problem, assuming that banks are still in the business of loaning against real estate.
If you want to stop this problem, then eliminate the federal subsidies for real estate development and investment. And, then require people in that industry to put their own money at risk instead of someone elses. If Greenspan really wants to change the banking system, though, then simply ban 95% and 90% LTV loans. Require a bigger equity cushion. BTW: the “too big to fail” argument is a fallacious one.
During the Great Depression, Canada had no bank failures. The reason was that their banks were very large. The banks closed branches, etc., but none of them failed. By contrast, the US was dominated by thousands of very small banks, and we had more than 10,000 of them fail.
So, there is nothing inherently unsafe about a banking system dominated by large banks. The real problem with large banks is that during good times, they don’t provide enough competition for each other.
George
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Financial Reform
DId you know that the most sweeping overhaul of U.S. financial regulation since the Great Depression was slated for a crucial test vote, in the US Senate, today?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36770907/ns/business-us_business
So, stay tuned.
Ann
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“The greatest tragedy would be to accept the refrain that no one could have seen this coming and thus nothing could have been done,”
Federal Commission Report [January 2011]
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