OCC Calls For Equal Access To Banking Services

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has proposed personal banking regulations intended to level the playing field. 

The rule would guarantee that everyone would have equal access to banking services offered by national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign bank organizations, the statement indicated.

“Fair access to financial services, credit and capital is essential to our economy,” Brian P. Brooks, acting Comptroller of the Currency, said in a statement on Monday (Nov. 23). “This proposed rule would ensure that banks meet their responsibility to provide their services fairly since they enjoy special privilege and powers, because if the system fails to provide fairness to all, it cannot be a source of strength for any.”

The proposal would systemize over 10 years of OCC guidance, asking banks to extend services based on individual risk assessment instead of category-based assessment.

“The proposal builds upon the fundamental principle of nondiscrimination and would prevent banks — alone or in coordination with others — from limiting fair access to banking services by preventing a business or person from entering, or limiting their ability to enter, a particular market, or disadvantaging a person to benefit another person or interest,” according to the statement.

The recommendation is intended to reduce the amount of influence the country’s biggest banks have over pricing and services. 

It stated that products and services should be made available to all people in a community “based on consideration of quantitative, impartial, risk-based standards.” Services could be denied only “based on an objective assessment of the person’s creditworthiness, ability to pay or other quantitative, impartial, risk-based reasons.” 

A PYMNTS study earlier this year shows how the lines are blurring between FinTechs, Big Tech and traditional banks. Just 7.4 percent of consumers surveyed reported that their primary bank is a digital-only bank (4.2 percent) or PayPal (3.2 percent).