The House Financial Services Committee has scheduled a hearing entitled “Financial Industry Regulation: the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.” The hearing, which will involve the Comptroller of the OCC Joseph Otting, will take place on Wednesday, June 13 at 10AM ET at the Rayburn House Office Building. These hearings are live streamed on the Committees website.
The hearing memo states:
“Created as an independent bureau of the Department of the Treasury in 1863, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) regulates and supervises federally chartered, “national,” banks and thrift institutions. This hearing will discuss prudential regulation and supervision of national banks, including the efforts, activities, objectives, and plans the OCC will undertake to fulfill its mission during Comptroller Otting’s tenure.”
While the Committee memo is rather benign, it will be interesting to see if committee members question Otting as to how he is enabling Fintech innovation.
There is a growing line of debate that views existing regulations as creating a moat that now protects traditional finance to the detriment of FIntech startups seeking to disrupt the status quo. In the UK, competition in financial services in mandated. In the US, too frequently the opposite may be argued as traditional financial firms use their political clout (money) to push back against firms that may undermine their current, and at times antiquated, business models.