What Is ‘The Comptroller Of The Currency’ – And Why Does It Matter?

What Is ‘The Comptroller Of The Currency’ – And Why Does It Matter?

A USD $10,000 Federal Reserve Note from 1934 is displayed at the US Bureau of Printing and ... [+] Engraving (BEP) August 27, 2012 in Washington, DC. The note has the image of Salmon P. Chase, who was US Secretary of the Treasury under 16th US president Abraham Lincoln. Bills larger than USD $100 were discontinued with the end of the 1934 series, though printing actually continued until 1945, all dated 1934. AFP PHOTO/Paul J. Richards (Photo by Paul J. RICHARDS / AFP) (Photo by PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images)



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President Biden and Vice President Harris have made most of their cabinet picks now. There remains at least one important decision, however, that remains to be made. I refer to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (‘OCC'), often described as a ‘bank regulator' housed within Treasury.

There is a sense in which the OCC is a ‘bank regulator.' S/he does license our nationally chartered banks, after all (which must not, as I'll argue, include unproductive fintech ‘shadow banks'), and plays a critical role in determining what's held in our banks' investment portfolios. But in fact the