Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996: Final Rule

Summary

As part of its review under the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996 (EGRPRA), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published on January 23, 2017, a final rule that removes outdated or otherwise unnecessary provisions in certain rules, reducing the regulatory burden on national banks and federal savings associations (FSA). The final rule also integrates the OCC’s national bank and FSA rules relating to fidelity bonds, Securities Exchange Act of 1934 disclosures, securities offering disclosures, and insider and affiliate lending. While the OCC is conducting the EGRPRA review jointly with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the federal banking agencies), this final rule affects rules exclusive to the OCC and its supervision of national banks and FSAs. The final rule is effective April 1, 2017.

Highlights

Amendments included in the final rule

• exempt national banks from the prior approval, notification, and certification requirements for certain accounting-related changes to permanent capital.
• simplify certain business combinations involving mutually owned savings banks.
• clarify national bank director oath requirements.
• remove unnecessary requirements with respect to fidelity bond activities.
• revise certain fiduciary activity requirements for national banks and FSAs, including increasing the asset size limit for mini-funds.
• revise record-keeping and confirmation requirements for national banks’ and FSAs’ securities transactions to apply to FSAs the less burdensome record-keeping requirements found in the national bank rule, remove certain notice requirements, and permit national banks to use third-party service providers for record storage and maintenance.
• revise the OCC’s rules for securities offerings and Securities Exchange Act reporting to remove unnecessary filings for national banks and FSAs and to provide additional exceptions for FSAs.
• provide for the electronic submission of filings required under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act.
• update rules relating to insider and affiliate transactions to implement section 608 of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
• remove the requirement for FSAs to notify the OCC before establishing a transactional website.
• remove certain financial disclosure requirements for national banks.
• repeal certain regulatory reporting, auditing, accounting, and management policy rules for FSAs.
• integrate OCC rules for national banks and FSAs relating to fidelity bonds, Securities Exchange Act disclosures, securities offering disclosures, and insider lending.
• make other technical and clarifying changes.

Background

EGRPRA requires the federal banking agencies to review their rules every 10 years to identify outdated or otherwise unnecessary regulatory requirements imposed on insured depository institutions. As part of this review, the agencies jointly have published four Federal Register notices since 2014 seeking comment on 12 categories of rules. The agencies also conducted six outreach meetings across the country to solicit comment on the rules from bankers, consumer and community groups, and other interested parties. Rather than delaying changes until the completion of the EGRPRA review, the OCC is seeking to reduce undue burden sooner where possible. To this end, this final rule reflects a number of the EGRPRA comments the OCC has received. It also includes amendments to OCC rules derived from the agency’s most recent internal review of its rules to identify outdated or unnecessary provisions in addition to those suggested by EGRPRA commenters.

This final rule complements other actions the OCC has taken, separately and with the other agencies, to further the EGRPRA mandate, including an OCC final rule issued in May 2015 that removed outdated or unnecessary licensing requirements;¹ the interagency effort to streamline call report requirements and create a community bank call report;² a final rule that permits more qualifying community banks to be eligible for the 18-month examination cycle;³ and interagency guidance on the evaluation process in the appraisal rules.⁴

The OCC continues to review EGRPRA comments received and may consider additional rule changes based on these comments.

Further Information

Please contact Heidi M. Thomas, Special Counsel, or Rima Kundnani, Attorney, Legislative and Regulatory Activities Division, at (202) 649-5490.

Amy S. Friend
Senior Deputy Comptroller and Chief Counsel

Related Link

• Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996 Amendments (PDF)