Hsu focusing on fintech partnerships, crypto activities

Bank Regulatory Federal Issues Digital Assets Fintech OCC Cryptocurrency Risk Management

On September 7, acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael J. Hsu delivered remarks before the TCH + BPI Annual Conference in New York where he provided an update on agency priorities related to “guarding against complacency, addressing inequality, adapting to digitalization, and managing climate-related risk.” Among other things, Hsu’s prepared remarks highlighted the fact that while the banking industry needs to adapt to digitalization, it is important to maintain a “careful and cautious” approach to cryptocurrency activities. He referred to OCC Interpretive Letter 1179 (covered by InfoBytes here), which clarifies that national banks and federal savings associations should not engage in certain crypto activities unless they are able to “demonstrate, to the satisfaction of its supervisory office, that [they have] controls in place to conduct the activity in a safe and sound manner.” Hsu further noted in his remarks that the regulators’ careful and cautious approach helps explain, at least in part, why the federally-regulated banking system has been largely unaffected by the recent failure of several crypto platforms.

Hsu also stressed the need to develop a better understanding of bank-fintech arrangements, stressing that these partnerships are growing at an exponential rate and are becoming more complicated. While “[t]echnological advances can offer greater efficiencies to banks and their customers[,] [t]he benefit of those efficiencies… are lost if a bank does not have an effective risk management framework, and the effect of substantial deficiencies can be devastating,” Hsu said. He added that the OCC is “currently working on a process to subdivide bank-fintech arrangements into cohorts with similar safety and soundness risk profiles and attributes” to “enable a clearer focus on risks and risk management expectations,” and stated that the agency is coordinating with other regulators to make sure there is “a shared understanding of how the financial system is evolving and that regulatory arbitrage and races to the bottom are minimized.” During his speech, Hsu also touched upon topics related to climate-related risks, economic inequality and structural barriers to financial inclusion, and the importance of maintaining strong risk management discipline.