OCC Beefs Up Banking Oversight

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has announced that it’s going to realign about 150 staff members in two new units, the organization said in a press release.  

The two units will consolidate bank supervision support, risk analysis, and oversight of national trust banks and important service providers.

“This realignment will improve the agency’s ability to supervise the federal banking system by aligning like work, eliminating redundancies, and ensuring the OCC presents a single voice to supervised institutions,” Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting said. “In addition, this work will contribute to our strategic goal of operating the agency as effectively and efficiently as possible.”

The move was several months in the making and helped on by analysis of the department’s functions.

The first unit will be Supervision System and Analytical Support, and it’s made up of supervisory information system teams, data management, business intelligence, risk analysis and supervision risk management workers from other OCC units. It will support the whole agency and cover issues nationally. Deputy Comptroller for Supervision Risk Management Bob Phelps has been chosen to run the new unit.  

The second unit is Systemic Risk Identification Support and Specialty Supervision. It joins the lead experts from Large Bank Supervision and Midsize Bank Supervision and other teams that supervise trust companies from the Northeastern District National Trust Banks team, as well as service providers from Bank Supervision Policy. The leader of this unit hasn’t been chosen yet.

Both of the new units are going to report to the chief operating officer, and the OCC’s Committee on Bank Supervision is going to direct the units strategically as well as have oversight of them.

“This will promote greater coordination and collaboration across the supervision business units. The Committee on Bank Supervision is made up of senior executives who oversee OCC units that supervise the majority of institutions that make up the federal banking system,” the release said. “Strategic direction from the Committee on Bank Supervision ensures the units’ activity supports the supervisory needs of the federal banking system.”