OCC and Mississippi Banking Department Agree to Share Consumer Complaint Information

JACKSON – Mississippi Department of Banking and Consumer Finance (DBCF) Commissioner John Allison and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Ombudsman Samuel P. Golden have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that provides a mechanism for sharing consumer complaint information between their two regulatory agencies.

The MOU is an agreement patterned on a template created by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. The template, announced by the two organizations several weeks ago, recognizes that consumers do not always know which regulatory agency – state or federal – supervises their bank. The MOU provides model procedures to ensure that misdirected complaints are sent to the appropriate agency and that agencies are able to track the status of a referred complaint and resolve it in a more efficient manner.

"I want to thank Commissioner Allison for working with us on this MOU," said Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan. "The real winners here are Mississippi consumers, who should not be expected to know which regulatory agency to send a complaint to when they run into problems."

"It is essential that consumer complaints be addressed efficiently by the appropriate supervisory agency," said Commissioner Allison. "This MOU will allow the DBCF and the OCC to enhance communication about consumer complaints and share information about their ultimate resolution."

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