US currency comptroller to up its game with new Office of Financial Technology in 2023
The United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced Oct. 27 that it will create an Office of Financial Technology early next year. The new office will incorporate the Office of Innovation, which was set up in 2016. It will be led a by a chief financial technology officer, who will report to the senior deputy comptroller for bank supervision policy.
The OCC describes itself as the U.S.’s “preeminent prudential supervisor.” It is an independent bureau of the Treasury Department and also charters financial institutions. Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu said in a statement:
Hsu may be looking forward to paying less attention to crypto personally. He told Reuters in an interview Oct. 13 that “We’re spending too much time on crypto. It’s interesting, it has thorny issues [...] but relative to other technology and banking issues, I think we’re now kind of overweight crypto.”
The @USOCC announced it will establish an Office of Financial Technology early next year to bolster the agency’s expertise and ability to adapt to a rapidly changing banking landscape. Read more at Read more at https://t.co/G0xJaYDITC pic.twitter.com/Q98Ev3XAh9
Hsu’s observations on crypto itself have been tepid, at best. He called it an “immature industry based on an immature technology” in a talk on Oct. 12 and said that its “most promising innovations have been crowded out by hype and a fixation on trading.” He warned against “unduly accommodative regulation” of crypto in a different talk on the same day.
Related: OCC issues order against Anchorage Digital over AML compliance
Hsu’s attitude toward crypto was reflected in the OCC’s Interpretative Letter 1179, published in November, which requires that banks wishing to
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