The breadcrumb trail passes through a SECRET POWER PLACE

Everybody who knows about the Office of the Comptroller of Currency raise your hand.

In January 2004, a previously obscure and little-noticed, presidential appointee, the Comptroller of Currency, unilaterally revoked the right of states to enforce consumer protection laws in situations where a national bank or its subsidiary is the alleged violator. This neocon, Bush Administration lawyer just usurped power by edict. A state could no longer prosecute, or even investigate preditory lenders.

The Attorneys General of all 50 states objected. An entire layer of legal protection had been pulled out from under homeowners with a mortgage; the working poor, who resort to payday loans; and other vulnerable credit customers.  Suddenly their only avenue of appeal and redress was an agency in Washington. An agency that had been the spearhead of deregulation and reduced supervision.

The New York State Superintendent of Banks, Diana L. Taylor testified before Congress on January 28, 2004 saying:

“As you know, the Comptroller of the Currency has recently issued sweeping regulations that seek to preempt almost all state laws that apply to national banks and their subsidiaries. This regulation also tries to shield all national banks - and their subsidiaries - from oversight, inspection and enforcement actions by any state authority, including the state attorneys general.

The Comptroller has said that these new regulations are merely the next natural step in that agency's interpretation of . . . Gramm-Leach-Bliley. The Comptroller has also said that these changes are incremental in nature and unlikely to have major effects on the banking industry or on consumers' experiences with financial institutions.

Chairwoman Kelly, members of the Committee, these claims are not true. These regulations are not minor or incremental changes. Their scope is nearly unlimited, and their implications are potentially enormous. These regulations exceed the OCC's statutory authority and disregard Congressional intent. The OCC adopted these regulations over the strong objections of CSBS, the National Governors Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures and all fifty state attorneys general. In adopting the regulations, the OCC ignored your own request for extra time to consider their implications. Instead, the OCC issued a set of regulations that may affect millions of consumers across the country without a public hearing and without meaningful consultation with the parties these regulations would affect.”

The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is a secret power place. The Comptroller, or Director of the OCC is ex-officio a Director of FIDC, the insurer of bank deposits that is the last line of economic defense for most Americans, and on top of that s/he is a director of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

Whozat?   They’re the ones who decide what information and in what form banks and financial service companies have to report to the federal government.

DAMN! That’s a powerful little office.