May 29, 2020

Brown Statement On Otting’s Resignation From The Office Of The Comptroller Of The Currency (OCC)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) – ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs – released the following statement following the news that Joseph Otting, Comptroller of the Currency, resigned from his post after finalizing a rule on the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).  The CRA was enacted to address longstanding racial discrimination in our nation’s housing policies and increase access to credit in historically disinvested communities.

“Comptroller Otting had one goal in mind when he took this job—change the rules that got him in trouble as a banking executive,” said Senator Brown, “He spent his years at the agency rolling back important financial protections and trying to gut a critical civil rights law that sought to address redlining and disinvestment. His crusade to undermine the CRA could limit access to sustainable mortgage credit, small business loans, community development, and partnerships between financial institutions and the communities they serve. Right now underserved communities need more access to mortgage credit, meaningful investments, and safe banking services, not less.”

Brown has long pushed to end attempts to weaken the CRA. He condemned Otting’s move to gut the CRA and recently led his colleagues in a letter urging regulators not to adopt the OCC’s proposed rule and to end attempts to weaken the CRA.

 

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