HENDERSON, NEV. Comptroller of the Currency
John C. Dugan said today that the OCC is exploring new ways of providing
minority-owned national banks with tools that may assist them in strengthening
their operations and financial performance.
In a speech to the
annual convention of the National Bankers Association, a trade group for
minority-owned institutions, Mr. Dugan said that while the OCC has a positive
record in this area, he wants the agency to do more. A recent report by the Government
Accountability Office, he noted, found that only about 25 percent of eligible
minority-owned institutions have taken advantage of services provided by the
OCC.
The first step, he
said, will be to survey the field staff that supervises minority
institutions. The survey will catalog
existing efforts and identify agency best practices that can be shared by the
supervisory staff. The agency will use
conclusions from that study to frame an external assessment of the OCCs
efforts on behalf of minority banks.
Responding to the
principal GAO recommendation, the agency will survey all OCC minority banks to
find out how better to target our education, outreach, and technical assistance
efforts so they are more useful and effective, he said. In particular, we hope to better understand
the phenomenon, identified in the GAO study, that few minority banks take
advantage of the training, education, and technical assistance efforts the
federal banking agencies now provide.
The
Comptroller also thanked Congress for passing OCC-supported legislation
expanding the authority of national banks to make public welfare
investments. The so-called Part 24
authority has resulted in more than $16 billion of such investments over the
past 10 years, and the OCC was instrumental in pushing for the legislation.
The Part 24 authority
provides one mechanism through which national banks can make equity investments
in minority-owned financial institutions, the Comptroller said. As the OCC indicated publicly earlier this
year, these investments will be considered favorably under the Community
Reinvestment Act if they help meet the credit needs of the communities in which
the minority-owned institution is chartered.
The Comptroller said
one key to the success of the OCCs relationship with minority banks is the
quality of the relationship between the bank and the Portfolio Manager, the
examiner with responsibility for a banks overall supervision. Portfolio Managers are expected to have a
detailed knowledge of the banks under their supervision, and the OCC makes
special efforts to ensure that those assigned to minority institutions
understand the cultures of the banks they supervise.
For example, he said,
In an OCC field office where a substantial number of minority-owned banks
served Asian-American markets, the OCC manager organized a
Diversity-in-Action training session for examiners by a diversity consultant
to better understand Asian business practices and cultural perceptions.
The Comptroller said
minority-owned banks play a unique role in their communities. Among the examples he cited was that of Omni
Bank in Alhambra, California, where the staff speaks eight
languages, including three dialects of Chinese.
What these
institutions have in common is a commitment to treat their customers with
respect, and to deliver the banking services they need, he said. And that commitment, in turn, is why the OCC
is committed to the success of minority banking in America.
The speech is available
on http://www.occ.gov/ftp/release/2006-112a.pdf
# # #
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 the banking needs of their customers in the best possible
manner. OCC press releases and other
information are available at http://www.occ.gov. To receive OCC press releases and issuances
by email, subscribe at http://www.occ.gov/listserv.htm.