NEW YORK (Reuters) – A top U.S. bank regulator has been working to ensure that examiners on the ground have a lighter touch with institutions they scrutinize, but change will take more time, acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika said in an interview on Friday.
Bankers at institutions regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) have said they have not experienced much change from examiners, who inspect loan-level data on balance sheets as well as firm-wide risk taking and cultural issues.
“I’ve spent a lot of time in the field and we are starting to get a sense that examiners are listening,” said Noreika, who last week said he plans to resign from his role after Congress confirms President Donald Trump’s choice for a permanent comptroller.
The OCC is “at the front end of this,” he added. “I think we’ll see the fruits of that later.”
Though based in Japan, MUFG has a U.S. retail banking operation and significant stake in Morgan Stanley. Its decision to change regulators was widely seen as a move from a tough state regulator in New York to an easier-going OCC.
In Noreika’s view, examiners must be empowered to use their own judgment rather than simply enforcing rules handed down by lawmakers and bureaucrats in Washington.
“It has the effect of undermining bank regulators’ ability to do their job,” he said.
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