Primary Regulator
What Is a Primary Regulator?
A primary regulator is a state or federal regulatory agency entrusted with being the fundamental overseeing entity of a financial institution. Generally speaking, this is the very agency that issued the initial charter permitting the financial institution to operate.
Banks and other financial institutions must file quarterly call reports that show their income and overall condition to their primary regulatory authority.
Figuring out a Primary Regulator
For national banks, the primary regulator is the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). State-chartered banks and bank holding companies, in the mean time, initially report to the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), while state banks reply to the banking departments of their particular states.
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)
The OCC charters, manages, and administers every single national bank and federal savings associations, as well as federal branches and agencies of foreign banks. The OCC is an independent bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Credit Unions
The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) oversees and guarantees federal credit unions and all state-chartered credit unions.
State-Chartered Banks
Two federal agencies share responsibility for state banks. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) protects state-chartered banks that are not individuals from the Federal Reserve System (FRS), as well as deposits in banks and savings associations.
For state-chartered banks that are individuals from the FRS, in the mean time, the FRB is the primary regulator. Furthermore, state-chartered banks are administered by state banking regulators.
Special Considerations
The OCC is by a wide margin the greatest primary regulator and is responsible for the biggest number of institutions. The OCC notes that it has the power to analyze the national banks and federal thrifts. It can support or deny applications for new charters, branches, capital, or different changes in corporate or banking structures. It can likewise make supervisory moves against national banks and federal thrifts that don't consent to laws and regulations or that in any case take part in shaky practices.
The OCC can eliminate officers and directors, arrange agreements to change banking practices, and issue cease and desist orders as well as civil money punishments. In addition, it can issue rules and regulations, legal translations, and corporate choices overseeing investments, lending, and different practices.
The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) was converged with the OCC, the FDIC, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in July 2011 to make one regulatory agency. Already, the OCC managed all federally chartered and state-chartered savings banks and savings and loan associations (S&Ls).
Connections to the different primary regulators can be found here.
Features
- A primary regulator is the fundamental directing body of a bank or other financial institution.
- Primary regulators are state or federal regulatory agencies and are generally the very agency that gave the charter that permitted the financial institution to operate.
- The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is the greatest primary regulator in the country and is responsible for the best number of financial institutions.
- The OCC's liabilities incorporate supporting charters for new banks, making moves against banks that don't follow laws and regulations, eliminating officers and directors, giving out cease and desist orders, and giving civil money punishments.
