The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a proposed rule today to push forward on Dodd-Frank compliance. Dodd-Frank regulations, which are slated to come into effect this July, require that the OCC take over the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS).
The proposed rule sets up a protocol to revise key rules for key internal functions and operations as soon as the OCC takes jurisdiction of the OTS’s Federal savings associations. The changes cover organization, information availability, and post-employment restrictions regulations. The rule also adds Federal savings associations to the assessment fee rule, creating a single assessment schedule for both national banks and savings associations after a transition period. Both banks and thrifts would be subject to the same assessment methodologies, rates, fees, and payment due dates. Based on these rules, the thrift industry as a whole would have saved $18 million in 2010.
The OCC has also announced its intention to issue an Interim Final Rule effective on the OTS transfer date that republishes OTS regulations as new OCC rules, complete with proper jargon to reflect OCC supervision of Federal thrifts.
Other aspects of Dodd-Frank reform are also addressed in the proposed rule, including a temporary hold on changes in control of credit card and trust banks, a permanent increase in deposit insurance, and adjustments to OCC rules on preemption and visitation.
