The American Prospect, June 3, 2020: Bank Regulations Can Be Tools of Oppression, Too
You might think that the last thing worth understanding in the middle of running battles in the streets and a public-health crisis in our hospitals is bank regulatory policy. You would be wrong, however, as finance looms over our national crises and our efforts to solve and recover from them.
Recent events at an agency that’s obscure to most Americans epitomize not only the corruption and venality at the heart of the Trump administration, but the hurdles to rebuilding that we can expect.
That agency is the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a division of the Treasury Department. It’s the lead regulator for nationally chartered banks. The Treasury Secretary, effectively the hiring manager for this position, is Steve Mnuchin, who was the CEO (briefly) and then chair of OneWest Bank. Until last week, the head of OCC was Joseph Otting, who also happened to have been Mnuchin’s replacement as CEO of OneWest Bank. And starting Monday, Otting’s provisional successor as the acting comptroller of the currency is Brian Brooks, former chief legal officer and vice chair of … OneWest Bank.
