National banks and federal savings associations continue to face a number of risks as they seek to improve profits in the face of slow economic growth and a prolonged low interest rate environment. Banks are layering risk back into the system in ways that are difficult to quantify at this point in the cycle. That is why risk management must remain a top priority according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s semiannual assessment of risk.  Read more

The federal bank regulatory agencies today released an estimation tool to help community banks understand the potential effects of the recently revised regulatory capital framework on their capital ratios. The revised framework implements the Basel III regulatory capital reforms and certain changes required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.  Read more

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today published the latest edition of its Community Developments Investments electronic newsletter entitled "Financing Business Development and Expansion in Rural America."  Read more

Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry told a conference on money laundering enforcement that the Bank Secrecy Act is a key element in the fight against illegal drugs and terrorism, and said meeting the challenges of the future will require increased diligence on the part of the industry and government alike.  Read more

WASHINGTON — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today published an online newsletter that provides information showing how national banks and federal savings associations can use public welfare investment authority to invest in wind energy projects. This Community Developments Investments newsletter, “Investing in Wind Energy Using the Public Welfare Investment Authority,” can be accessed on the OCC’s Web site at www.occ.gov.  Read more

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) proposed a rule on Wednesday to strengthen the liquidity risk management of large banks and savings associations. The OCC and FDIC’s proposed liquidity rule is substantively the same as the proposal approved by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on October 24, 2013.  That proposal, which was developed collaboratively by the three agencies, is applicable to banking organizations with $250 billion or more in total consolidated assets; banking organizations with $10 billion or more in on-balance sheet foreign exposure; systemically important, nonbank financial institutions that do not have substantial insurance subsidiaries or substantial insurance operations; and bank and savings association subsidiaries thereof that have total consolidated assets of $10 billion or more (covered institutions).  The proposed rule does not apply to community banks.  Read more

Five federal regulatory agencies today issued a statement to address industry questions about fair lending risks associated with offering only Qualified Mortgages. Creditors have asked for clarity regarding whether the disparate impact doctrine of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and its implementing regulation, Regulation B, allows them to originate only Qualified Mortgages. For the reasons described in the statement, the five agencies do not anticipate that a creditor’s decision to offer only Qualified Mortgages would, absent other factors, elevate a supervised institution’s fair lending risk.  Read more