Dive Brief:
- The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has departed the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System, the agency responsible for regulating and supervising national banks and federal savings associations announced Tuesday.
- “The OCC’s primary mission is to ensure the safety, soundness and fairness of national banks and federal savings associations,” Acting Comptroller of the Currency Rodney Hood said in a statement. “Participation in the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System extends well beyond the OCC’s statutory responsibilities and does not align with our regulatory mandate.”
- The OCC is the latest federal agency to exit the global coalition that aims to mobilize green finance and develop recommendations for climate-risk management in the financial sector. Last month, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the U.S. Treasury Department all left NGFS.
Dive Insight:
The departure was announced a day after Hood, a former National Credit Union Administration chairman, became acting comptroller at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Hood was previously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2005 and in 2019 again to serve as NCUA board chair — the second stint was during President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House. The OCC acting comptroller is now also one of three Republicans to have a seat on the FDIC’s board, maxing out the total board members one political party is allowed to have, per FDIC rules.
“While severe weather events may be a broader societal concern, they do not fall within the OCC's statutory mandate,” Hood said in the Feb. 11 statement announcing the exit. “Going forward, the OCC's focus must singularly remain on fulfilling our core mission.”
The OCC joined the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System in July 2021, the same month the agency appointed its first climate change risk officer. At the time, the agency said the newly created position would “significantly expand the agency’s capacity to collaborate with stakeholders and to promote improvements in climate change risk management at banks.” Yue (Nina) Chen currently serves as the agency’s climate risk officer and has held the position since 2022. Hood’s Tuesday statement did not elaborate on whether the OCC would continue to maintain a climate risk officer amongst its leadership positions.
The OCC’s departure from NGFS follows exits made by three other federal financial regulators last month, all of which happened around the time of Trump’s inauguration.
NGFS was established in 2017 with the aim of incorporating climate change and related risks into the financial agenda of global central banks and supervising bodies. The coalition’s membership covers 100% of global systemic banks and 80% of the internationally active insurance groups, according to its website.
