OCC Ethics Rules

OCC Ethics Rules
A Plain English Guide

December 1997

Revised July 21, 2006

Maybe you've been thinking about investing in the stock market or taking advantage of an offer of a free weekend from a hotel where you are staying on a business trip. Or you've been thinking about retiring from the OCC and a banker friend of yours says you would be perfect to head up a new unit in a community bank.

As an employee of the OCC, you know that you have to be careful about following the OCC's ethics rules, which are designed to guard against conflicts of interest that could undermine public confidence in the OCC. But you can't quite remember what kind of mutual funds you have to tell your in-laws that they can't buy for your 5-year old. And you have this nagging feeling that there may be other ethics rules that you've forgotten or aren't sure of.

This booklet will help you answer these and other questions about the OCC's ethics rules. It can help protect you from arrangements that could have serious consequences for you, including suspension, dismissal, or civil and criminal penalties. The brochure describes rules that all OCC employees must follow. It explains additional rules that bank examiners and other OCC employees who file financial disclosure forms must follow. Keep it handy so you can refer to it from time to time.

But remember that this booklet won't answer all of your questions. The section at the back of this booklet will tell you where you can go to get more information. And it has a list of OCC ethics officials you can contact any time you need advice about the ethical implications of a matter.

Ethics Rules for All OCC Employees

Avoiding financial conflicts

U.S. government employees may not use their positions at work to advance their personal financial interests. As an employee of the OCC, you should always keep this in mind because so much of what you do can have a financial impact not only on yourself but on all American citizens. To avoid financial conflicts, you may not participate in matters that could affect your financial interests or those of your spouse or minor child. If you have business interests outside the OCC, you can't participate in a matter at the OCC that could affect the financial interests of your general partner, or an organization for which you serve as an officer, director, trustee, general partner, or employee.

Also, you may not participate in anything at the OCC that could give even the appearance of a financial conflict of interest. When in doubt you should consult with your ethics official to make sure your impartiality will not be questioned and, if it might be, to decide whether you should be recused from becoming involved in a certain issue. You need to be especially careful if any of the following situations come up at work:

You are asked to become involved in a matter concerning a person with whom you have or want to have a business relationship.

An issue comes up in which a member of your household or a close relative is involved.

A project at work relates to a company or person for whom you, your spouse, parent, or dependent child serve or want to serve as an employee, consultant, partner, director, trustee, or officer.

An assignment arises involving a company or person in which you have served as employee, agent, consultant, partner, or officer within the last year.

A matter comes up concerning an organization in which you are an active participant.

Owning and recommending bank securities
Our role at the OCC is to protect the safety and soundness of the national banking system. That means we are involved on a daily basis in matters that could relate to the condition of individual banks. We can't use the nonpublic information we know about banks, especially information derived from bank examination reports, in making our personal investments. And we can't divulge that information to others or give them recommendations based on it.

The OCC's ethics rules concerning bank securities are designed to protect us from such a conflict of interest. These rules say that:

You can't own securities of national or state-chartered banks or their affiliates. Your spouse and your minor children can't own such securities either.

You, your spouse, or your minor children can own securities of certain commercial companies that own a credit card bank or other limited-purpose bank, such as Sears. If you do so, however, you must be recused from being involved with any issue at the OCC involving the bank.

You, your spouse, or your minor children can invest in a mutual fund as long as the fund does not invest more than 25 percent of its assets in bank securities. If you and your immediate family have more than a $50,000 investment in one or more of these bank or financial services "sector" funds, you cannot work on matters involving any of the investments of that fund.

You or your spouse generally can receive pension benefits from a bank that you worked at before you came to work for the OCC. If either of you do so, however, you must be recused from being involved with any issue at the OCC involving the bank.

You can't make recommendations about buying or selling bank securities.

Giving and receiving gifts
Most of the OCC's ethics rules on gifts are based on government-wide regulations. Some of these rules are meant to protect public servants from being tempted--or appearing to be tempted--by a gift from a private citizen wanting special treatment from the government. Other rules are designed to protect the integrity of the employee-supervisor relationship.

Gifts from non-OCC employees
In most cases you can't ask for or accept a gift from someone who does business with the OCC. You also can't accept gifts offered by anyone based on the fact that you work for the OCC. There are some exceptions to this rule, but they do not apply to gifts offered to examiners by the banks they examine. Here are the chief exceptions:

You can accept gifts for which you pay market value.

You may be able to accept a gift of less than "minimal value" ($245 in 1997) from a foreign government, including some central banks of foreign countries. But you must report this gift to your ethics official.

Remember that, even if a gift can be accepted under these rules, it is frequently advisable not to accept it to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

Gifts from OCC employees
In most cases you can't give a gift to your boss. And you generally can't accept a gift from a lower-paid employee. There are exceptions to these ruIes. It is generally permissible to give a gift valued at $10 or less to a supervisor. It is also permissible to give a supervisor a gift on certain special occasions. For example, it's okay for you to:

Give a gift to a supervisor, as long as it is not cash--

if it recognizes a special event such as a marriage, illness, or the birth of a child.;

if the supervisor is retiring; or

if it is a hospitality gift when you are invited to a supervisor's home.

But it is not permissible, for example, to give a Christmas or birthday gift to a supervisor because these are regularly recurring events, not special events like retirement, marriage, etc.

Attending outside events free of charge
As an OCC employee, you often have knowledge or expertise that others in the industry want to know about. If you're invited to attend a seminar or similar professional meeting, free of charge, you can accept the invitation as long as your supervisor or your ethics official thinks it's in the interest of the OCC.

When you are attending such a meeting, you can accept instructional materials and refreshments free or charge. But you usually can't accept free transportation, lodging, or other travel-related expenses from sources outside the federal government.

Teaching, speaking, and writing
These rules are meant to keep government employees from using what they have learned on the job to supplement their salaries. In general, you can't be paid from any other source than the federal government if you teach, speak, or write about any matter that relates to your official duties or the work of the OCC.

Working outside the OCC
When you first heard that you had to tell your boss that you were thinking about taking a part-time job, you may have thought that it was none of his or her business. But there really is a good reason for this rule it is meant to ensure that employees don't use their positions at the OCC to benefit a company or organization outside of the government.

You must tell your supervisor if you take a second job while working for the OCC. Also, you have to tell your supervisor about any outside business activity, even if you don't get paid for it, if your position causes you to make business decisions about the organization. This includes getting involved in the work of a nonprofit or educational organization.

You generally don't have to report your participation in purely honorary groups or religious, social, fraternal, or political organizations.

You have to get approval before you can begin any outside work or business activity that could create a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict with the work you do at the OCC. You should check with your ethics official if you have any question about whether you need to get prior approval. Here are a few examples of work outside the OCC that could raise questions about a conflict of interest:

Holding a job with a firm that does business with the OCC.

Being a member of the board of directors of a nonprofit organization that would require you to make decisions about borrowing from a national bank or buying bank securities.

Working for a commercial bank, another financial institution, or one of their affiliates--some OCC employees are prohibited from working for such entities.

Using your OCC position or title
As an employee of the OCC, you must be careful about what you do at work. And you must protect the integrity of your government position. Your time on the job should be spent in an honest effort to perform your official duties. For example, you can't use OCC property for unauthorized purposes. Here are two other examples of issues OCC ethics officials are often asked about what you can or can't do:

Except for the Combined Federal Campaign and certain collections of food, clothing, or toys, you can't engage in charitable fundraising activities at work. Nor can you allow your title or position at the OCC to be used in charitable fundraising solicitations. But you can place a notice or a sign-up sheet about a fundraising solicitation on a bulletin board in coffee rooms or similar locations.

You can't use your position or title at the OCC to endorse any product, service, or enterprise.

Buying government or national bank property
In almost all cases you aren't allowed to buy property owned by the government that is under the control of the Treasury Department or the OCC. In addition, you, your spouse, or your minor children can't buy property from a national bank or affiliate unless it's sold at a public auction. This property includes real estate, automobiles, furniture, or similar items.

Having checking accounts at banks
You or your spouse can have a checking or a deposit account at a national bank or other FDIC-insured institution. But your accounts at any one national bank can't exceed the FDIC's insurance limit.

Protecting nonpublic information
At the OCC, you have access to a variety of information not available to the general public. You are not allowed to use this nonpublic information to enhance your financial position or otherwise further your private interests. And you must observe all the laws and regulations that prohibit the unauthorized release of nonpublic information, including information derived from bank examination reports.

Engaging in political activities
You can participate in political activities when you aren't at work, such as volunteering to help in the election campaign of your chosen candidate. You can also make a personal donation to political causes as long as you comply with campaign or similar laws. But you can't engage in any political activity while on duty - including wearing political buttons - and you generally can't solicit or accept political contributions.

Traveling for the OCC
If you are one of the many OCC employees whose job requires you to travel from place to place on official business, you probably have questions about what is allowed and what isn't. You should consult the Comptroller's Handbook for Travel for details about OCC travel policies. But here is a short primer of travel-related issues as they apply to ethics rules:

Leaving the OCC
The OCC realizes that you may not spend your entire working career at the OCC. But the OCC also has to be sure that no conflict of interest or even the appearance of a conflict of interest takes place when its employees look for employment outside of the government. While examiners must follow additional rules if they leave the OCC to work for a bank they examined, all OCC employees have to be especially careful to follow these rules when looking for a new job:

You must refrain from participating in any matter related to a prospective employer when you are trying to get a job with that company.

If you are assigned to work on a matter involving a prospective employer, you must tell your supervisor and your ethics official immediately that you can't work on that matter.

These rules are fairly simple to follow if someone contacts you about accepting a job outside of the government. But you should also know that you are responsible for following them even when you are in the earliest stages of looking for another job. You must refrain from participating in any matter relating to a bank or other company if you:

Contact or send a resume to various banks or firms to find out about a possible job.

Negotiate a position with a company, bank, or person.

Are contacted about a possible job opportunity and, instead of rejecting it, you express interest in finding out more.

Ethics rules say you are no longer seeking employment when:

Either you or your prospective employer rejects the possibility of future employment and no more discussions take place.

Two months have passed since you sent out your resume and you haven't received any expression of interest from the prospective employer.

But in many cases you will have to be recused for some time after your employment search stops.

If you do accept a job outside the OCC, you must have a pre-exit interview with your ethics official before you leave the OCC.

Political Communications Prohibited
The integrity and effectiveness of the examination process depends upon its being kept completely free from any appearance of being influenced by political considerations. Contacts that occur with national banks through the examination process concerning legislative or political issues run the risk of being misperceived as implying that a bank should take a particular position on such issues.

Thus, OCC employees should have no communications with national banks that could be perceived as suggesting that the examination process is in any way influenced by political issues or considerations, or that the bank should take a particular position on political or legislative issues.

OCC employees should bring to the attention of their managers, or to the attention of their ethics counselor, any situation in which they feel the above policy might be compromised.

Extra Rules for Examiners and Other Financial Disclosure Filers

If you are an examiner in the field, you have access to information about individual banks. If you are a lawyer, economist, or other professional working on bank supervisory issues, you can be privy to confidential information the release of which could have serious consequences. Or your position at the OCC may give you access to information other OCC employees don't, or you are expected to make decisions that others aren't allowed to make. That's why you are subject to additional ethics rules.

Borrowing from national banks
Generally, you can't obtain a loan from a national bank or a subsidiary of a national bank, but there are a number of exceptions to this rule.

Your spouse or your minor child can get a loan from a national bank as long as it is obtained on their own credit and you are not involved as cosigner or guarantor.

You can have a credit card from a national bank without any recusal or other limitation, except that your credit card must be obtained on terms and conditions available to the general public.

You can keep a loan you obtained from a national bank before you came to work for the OCC, with a recusal. But, except for the primary residence mortgage loan exception and the vacation home exception discussed below, you can't renew or renegotiate that loan after coming to work for the OCC.

Working in a bank as an examiner
When you are in a bank, you have to be especially careful to avoid any situation that could appear to conflict with your official duties. And you must avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest. For example, you generally can't participate in a credit review of companies in which you or your spouse or minor child own stock or have another financial interest. If you have a close family member who works at a national bank or one of its affiliates, you can't participate in an examination or any other matter involving that bank or affiliate. And if you are a new OCC examiner who previously worked for a bank, you generally are recused from working on matters related to that bank for two years.

You can't accept a gift from any bank you supervise. You also must follow the other ethics rules concerning gifts that all OCC employees must follow. But the OCC's ethics rules recognize that when you are at a bank the bank serves as your office. So you are allowed to accept the following small items while you are at a bank:

Items with little intrinsic value, such as calendars and office supplies.

Food and refreshment shared in a business setting at the bank.

Meals in a subsidized bank cafeteria for which you pay the same rate as others.

Working outside the OCC
Like all OCC employees, you must follow all the rules described earlier for working outside the OCC. As a financial disclosure filer, you have one more rule to follow: you can't work for any bank, banking or loan association, or national bank affiliate. For example, you may not be able to take a part-time job analyzing financial models for a firm affiliated with a national bank.

If you are an attorney, you must get prior written approval from your supervisor, as well as the concurrence of your ethics official, for any activity involving the practice of law, even if uncompensated.

Having checking accounts at banks
Like all OCC employees, you are allowed to have checking or deposit accounts at banks. But if you have an account at a national bank, the terms and conditions of the account must be consistent with terms generally available to the public, and you may not have an overdraft line of credit.

Leaving the OCC
Like all OCC employees, you must follow all the rules that apply to employees who leave the government to work in the private sector. But here are two more rules to follow if you, as an examiner, look for or get a job with a bank you examined:

If you are a Large Bank or Midsize Bank EIC (examiner-in-charge), you are also prohibited for a period of one year after leaving federal employment from accepting compensation as an employee, officer, director, or consultant from the national bank for which you had continuing, broad responsibility for two of the preceding twelve months, from any parent company that controls this bank, and from any affiliated national banks for which you had supervisory responsibility.

Before you leave the OCC, you must have a pre-exit interview with your ethics official and, if you are going to work for a bank or a bank affiliate, you must also complete a special employee resignation form.

For more information
This booklet is for your general information. If it hasn't answered a specific question you have about the OCC's ethics rules, you can review the OCC Ethics Policy publication previously distributed to all employees. You can also look on the Law Department's home page on the OCCnet for the location of the Ethics Bulletin Board. This will give you more complete information about ethics rules and updates of changes.

Feel free to contact your ethics official anytime you have questions or concerns about the
OCC's ethics rules. Here is a list of who you can turn to for advice and phone numbers:

For Washington headquarters employees, contact the ethics counsel at (202) 874-4460.

For district, field, and large bank employees, contact the district counsels or members of their staff at the following numbers:

Northeastern District
(212) 790-4010

Central District
(312) 360-8805

Southern District
(214) 720-7011

Western District
(720) 475-7600

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency was created by Congress to charter national banks, to oversee a nationwide system of banking institutions, and to assure that national banks are safe and sound, competitive and profitable, and capable of serving in the best possible manner the banking needs of their customers.