Background
A
bank appealed to the ombudsman for a partial refund of its
semi-annual assessment fee.
The bank originally appealed to its supervisory office and
was denied.
Discussion
The
bank converted to a federal savings bank three months after paying
its semi-annual assessment fee. According to the appeal,
since the bank was no longer under the supervision of the OCC, it
was entitled to a refund of the remaining assessment. The appeal included
documentation to support the amount of payment made by the bank to
the OCC for the six-month period.
Conclusion
The
ombudsman reviewed the documentation submitted by the bank and OCC
policies and procedures regarding payment of semi-annual assessment
fees. According to
paragraph (5) under section (a) of 12 CFR 8 Assessment of Fees,
"Each bank subject to the jurisdiction of the Comptroller of the
Currency on the date of the second or fourth quarterly Call Report
required by the Office under 12 USC 161 is
subject to the full assessment for the next six-month period." The OCC assessment is levied
against all institutions that are in the national banking system as
of December 31 and June 30.
Therefore any bank that is a national bank on the assessment
date is required to pay the full semi-annual assessment. Additionally, the Notice of
Fees issued to all national banks on December 1, 2000, provided
notification that the OCC planned to
discontinue prorated refunds for institutions that leave the
national banking system part way through an assessment period. This policy became effective
as of January 1, 2001.
Since the bank was a national bank on the date that the
assessment was levied, the ombudsman opined that no partial refund
was
warranted.