A panel of community bankers met in Minneapolis this week with U.S. Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) Jonathan Gould to discuss ongoing efforts to combat financial fraud.
At the session, Gould discussed recent financial fraud in Minnesota, the role of banks to identify and combat fraud, and the OCC’s commitment to support banks in their efforts.
“Minnesota has seen fraud spiral out of control in recent years. Non-mortgage fraud reports in Minnesota more than doubled between 2020 and 2024, and filings of suspicious activity reports related to check fraud increased nearly 300% during that same period,” Gould said. “Billions of dollars intended for hungry children, housing for disabled seniors, and services for children with special needs were diverted to people who cheated the system, some of whom are not even American citizens. The OCC is committed to supporting community banks in the fight against fraud and participating in a whole-of-government effort to stop those who seek to exploit the U.S. financial system or prey on American families and taxpayers.”
Gould also discussed the OCC’s tools and resources to support bank efforts to report fraud and keep their customers and communities safe. Further, Gould announced the launch of a new tool for community bankers to directly report suspected payments fraud involving OCC-regulated institutions to an OCC fraud taskforce.
The comptroller of the currency also reminded banks of the OCC’s bulletin on the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network guidance that enhances information sharing across institutions and helps banks detect and thwart fraud more effectively.
In addition, Gould highlighted the success of Treasury’s Do Not Pay program to prevent fraud and improper payments. In the last fiscal year alone, Treasury screened more than 1.1 billion federal payments totaling approximately $3.7 trillion. Through these screenings, Treasury identified and returned approximately 13,500 payments totaling $175 million that would have gone to deceased individuals.