Joseph Otting, Comptroller of the Currency
Matthew Van Buskirk
I am thrilled to say that today’s guest is the 31st Comptroller of the Currency, Joseph Otting.
For our listeners outside the United States, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, is a bureau of the US Department of the Treasury and is the agency that charters and supervises our national banks -- those with federal charters. That includes all the very large US banks and many of the small ones.
The OCC always cites each Comptroller’s number in the line of succession, much the way people reference the number of the US president, as in President Trump being number 45. I think that tradition may have arisen because the Comptroller's Office is our oldest bank regulatory agency, founded in 1863. Its antique-sounding name reflects the fact that before the Civil War, bank notes were issued by private banks, and the federal government had to step in and control the currency chaos caused by the war.
As I discussed with Comptroller Otting, I myself am a proud alumna of the OCC -- I was once a Deputy Comptroller. Decades after leaving, my experience there still shapes how I think. As he notes in our conversation, there is a saying that once you have the OCC tattoo, you have it forever. It’s a venerable agency full of incredibly talented people.
But of course, like every other financial regulatory body today, it has to change. Comptroller Otting came into his role from the background of being a banker, and he has a very robust agenda for modernization. In our talk, he walks us through his priorities.
One is driving for efficiency (he talks about replacing paper binders with electronic communications and cutting operating costs by $180 million).
Another is modernizing regulations and policies. He shares his thinking on how to update the The Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering, as well as small-dollar consumer lending. He also talks in depth about the proposal issued by the OCC and the FDIC on modernizing the Community Reinvestment Act.
The Comptroller’s third goal is what he calls empowerment -- equipping the OCC’s field Examiners-in-Charge, or EIC’s, with greater authority.
We covered a great deal of other ground. He shares his thinking on how the OCC needs to use technology; on how technology is transforming banks; on top emerging risks, especially in cyber; on the need for banks to use AI in compliance and risk management; and on equipping community banks to compete in today’s high-tech market.
He talks about the increasing level of interagency coordination underway today. The US has five federal agencies that directly supervise depository institutions, which makes coordination complex and sometimes slow. I was pleased to hear that just before we recorded this show, he had been at a recurring lunch meeting he has with two other agency heads.
The Comptroller also talks about the OCC’s innovation initiative, which was one of the first set up by a US regulator. In a prior episode we talked about that program with former Comptroller Tom Curry, who established that unit.
Our talk also covered prospects for the OCC offering a specialized national bank charter for fintechs -- the Comptroller is very optimistic that the litigation on that issue will be resolved. On that topic, you might enjoy hearing the show we did with CSBS CEO John Ryan.
Comptroller Otting has a big agenda, and he says we should expect a lot of rule-making in 2020.
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More on Joseph Otting
Joseph M. Otting was sworn in as the 31st Comptroller of the Currency on November 27, 2017.
The Comptroller of the Currency is the administrator of the federal banking system and chief officer of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC supervises more than 1,200 national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks operating in the United States. The mission of the OCC is to ensure that national banks and federal savings associations operate in a safe and sound manner, provide fair access to financial services, treat customers fairly, and comply with applicable laws and regulations.
The Comptroller also serves as a director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.
Prior to becoming Comptroller of the Currency, Mr. Otting was an executive in the banking industry. He served as President of CIT Bank and Co-President of CIT Group.
Mr. Otting previously was President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors of OneWest Bank, N.A. Before joining OneWest Bank, he served as Vice Chairman of U.S. Bancorp, where he managed the Commercial Banking Group and served on the Bancorp’s executive management committee. He also served as a member of U.S. Bank’s main subsidiary banks’ Board of Directors.
From 1986 to 2001, Mr. Otting was with Union Bank of California, where he was Executive Vice President and Group Head of Commercial Banking. He was previously with Bank of America, holding positions in branch management, preferred banking, and commercial lending.
Mr. Otting has played significant roles in charitable and community development organizations. He has served as a board member for the California Chamber of Commerce, the Killebrew-Thompson Memorial foundation, the Associated Oregon Industries, the Oregon Business Council, the Portland Business Alliance, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oregon. He was also a member of the Financial Services Roundtable, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and the Board and Executive Committee of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation.
Mr. Otting holds a bachelor of arts in management from the University of Northern Iowa and is a graduate of the School of Credit and Financial Management, which was held at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
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Also, please come to the website of the new nonprofit I have cofounded. AIR is the Alliance for Innovative Regulation, launched last year to help modernize financial regulation through technology.
We have wonderful episodes in the queue.
Next up, we have another US agency head -- a thought-provoking show with FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams. We have a fascinating discussion with Greg Becker, CEO of Silicon Valley Bank,and a show with Jeff Dyer about his book, Innovation Capital. We have conversations with David Reiling, CEO of Sunrise Banks and Ellison Anne Williams, CEO of Enveil. We’ll be talking with Albert Forkner, State Banking Commissioner of Wyoming, which is takin interesting initiatives in crypto-currency regulation.. And, soon I’ll be speaking with Sarah Willis of the Metlife Foundation and Allie Burns, CEO of the nonprofit Village Capital.
If you would like to book me to speak to your group, contact jay@provokemanagement.com.
Meanwhile I’ll hope to see you at these events:
Paris Fintech Forum, January 28-29, Paris, France
India FinTech Festival, March 4-5, Mumbai
Innovate Finance Global Summit, April 20-21, London, UK
Shared Assessments Third Party Risk Summit, April 29-30, Arlington, VA
LendIt Fintech USA, May 13-14, New York, NY
And for regulators, I’m looking forward to speaking at an upcoming conference of the FFIEC and will hope to see many of you there!
The views and opinions expressed during the Barefoot Innovation podcast series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of Barefoot Innovation Group and its employees. Barefoot Innovation Group does not verify for accuracy the information contained in the podcast series. The primary purpose of this podcast series is to educate and inform.