Otting Confirmed as Comptroller of the Currency

Waiting patiently since his nomination back in June, former president and CEO of OneWest Bank Joseph Otting was confirmed by the Senate to become the next leader of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). At OneWest, Otting served with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. That relationship delayed his confirmation as Senate Democrats criticized some of his old bank’s foreclosure practices in recent years.

Otting will take the reigns from Acting Comptroller Keith Noreika, with Noreika now in the hunt to become the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. While at the OCC, Noreika was a huge proponent of a proposed system to issue special purpose bank charters to FinTech companies. Although the charter proposal is currently tied up in litigation with the State of New York and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, its implementation or abandonment will be a top priority for the new comptroller.