Before 2020 came to an end, I left the following Comments on regulations.gov in response to yet another proposed new rule by the current regime. I encourage you to do the same.
Or, leave your own Comments on or before the due date of January 4, 2021.
The identifying information for this proposed new rule is below in order to leave your Comments. Here is a link to the proposed rule, followed by my Comments as an example that you can accept or reject when you write your own Comments: Department of the Treasury, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, titled Fair Access to Financial Services.
Link: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/11/25/2020-26067/fair-access-to-financial-services
Comment: ID: OCC-2020-0042
This is a new rule proposed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that, as The Regulatory Review Weekly Summary on November 27, 2020 described it, "would prevent banks from refusing to lend to entire categories of lawful businesses, most notably ensuring that fossil fuel companies may not be denied financing solely on the basis of their business category [i.e., on the basis of their being fossil fuel companies]."
The OCC justified its proposed new rule as ensuring fair access to bank services, capital, and credit on two grounds that are seemingly inconsistent: One, that the proposed rule "would codify more than a decade of OCC guidance" and, second, it would implement the far more recent language found in Title III of the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010.
A representative of the Sierra Club put the proposed rule in context, reportedly saying that the Dodd-Frank Act was “not designed to force banks to invest in projects they deem to be overly risky and not good investments.”
The OCC is not properly in the business of regulating business decisions of banks (or any other investors) about what to invest in, and what not to invest in. More to the point, the OCC does not have the authority to do so.
This proposed rule is a failure as policy, and it is a failure because it is administrative agency overreach. For these reasons, it should be withdrawn and if not withdrawn, then it will be struck down judicially or legislatively after it is issued.
Thank you for your consideration of these Comments.
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