Banking Dive, July 13, 2020: Don’t use coronavirus as excuse to close branches, OCC says
Dive Brief:
- Banks should not be using the coronavirus pandemic as a cover to shutter branches, the acting head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) told the Financial Times.
- Brian Brooks, who took over as acting comptroller at the end of May following the departure of Joseph Otting, said existing rules governing branch closures would remain in place, and banks should not expect to see a permanent extension of certain rule relaxations related to COVID-19.
- “I don’t believe this is the worst thing that’s ever happened in the history of the Republic and so therefore I’m not prepared to revisit the fundamentals of bank regulation,” Brooks told the publication.
