OCC Names Chief Climate Risk Officer
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) appointed Dr. Yue (Nina) Chen its chief climate risk officer. Chen previously served as the executive deputy superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services’ climate division.
In a speech at The Clearing House and Bank Policy Institute's Annual Conference, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu noted banks and bank trade associations have raised concerns about the OCC’s supervisory and regulatory actions related to climate change in “every meeting” he has had with them.
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Senate Banking Committee: CFPB Pursuing Radical Agenda
The 12 Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee accused the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of pursuing “a radical and highly-politicized agenda unbounded by statutory limits.” The senators called CFPB’s actions against bank overdraft fees a “relentless smear campaign.”
They also accused CFPB of changing its rules so it could publish previously confidential information about financial institutions to make it easier to threaten them with reputational harm. The senators also alleged that the agency changed its rules of adjudication to make it harder for companies to defend themselves against novel enforcement theories, and easier for the agency to engage in regulation by enforcement.
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OCC Issues Video Teleconferencing Privacy Bulletin
The OCC issued a bulletin for community banks on the legal requirements for protecting non-public OCC information in video teleconferencing services. Banks and other parties in possession of such information — such as supervisory correspondence and investigatory files — are prohibited from disclosure without the agency’s prior approval, except in very limited circumstances. The agency outlined several security requirements for video teleconferences where such information will be shared.
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Financial Service Republicans Ask Fed for CBDC Clarification
Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee asked Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard to clarify the Fed’s motivation for possibly issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the need for Congress to support or explicitly authorize such a move and the Fed’s position on individual retail accounts at the central bank.
New Firearm Seller Merchant Code
The International Organization for Standardization last week approved a merchant category code for firearms stores. Visa, Mastercard and American Express announced plans to use the code to track firearm purchases. The code was requested by Amalgamated Bank of New York.
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