The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking aimed at refining the standards for issuing matters requiring attention (MRAs) in response to violations of banking laws and regulations. The proposal introduces two distinct categories: “substantive violations” and “technical violations,” intending to focus supervisory efforts on issues that could significantly impact banks or their customers.
Under the proposed rule, the OCC would only issue an MRA for “substantive violations.” These are defined as violations whose nature, duration, frequency, or severity could meaningfully affect a bank or its customers. To qualify as substantive, a violation must meet at least one of five criteria, including being systemic, having a direct and more than minimal financial impact, affecting the accuracy of books and records, requiring more than minimal customer restitution, or involving insider misconduct.
Conversely, “technical violations” would not result in an enforcement action or an MRA. For these less significant infractions, examiners would be permitted to direct a bank to correct the violation but would not prescribe the method of correction or require unrelated remediation steps. Adam J. Cohen, Senior Deputy Comptroller and Chief Counsel, said the revisions are intended to “better focus supervisory attention on the violations that are the most critical to the prudent operation of a bank.”
The proposed rule applies to all OCC-supervised institutions, including national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies. Comments on the proposal are due 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register.