1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Office of the Comptroller of the Currencys Fair Access to Financial Services Rule February 5, 2021 On January 28, 2021, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced that it had “paused pu
2、blication” of its Fair Access to Financial Services final rule (Fair Access Rule or the Rule), which some have considered “controversial.” The agency had finalized the Rule on January 14, 2021, the last day in office of Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks, and withdrew it before publicat
3、ion in the Federal Register but after the Biden Administration had imposed a regulatory freeze on administrative rules. The Rule would generally prohibit national banks and federal savings associations with at least $100 billion in total assets from denying financial services to corporate entities,
4、businesses, nonprofits, or individuals solely on a “subjective basis” and would set standards to impartially evaluate customer risk. At the same time that it paused publication of the Rule, OCC emphasized that “OCCs long-standing supervisory guidance that banks should avoid termination of broad cate