The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is touting the benefits of its newly revised “Fair Lending” booklet.
“Ensuring compliance with fair lending laws will help put an end to discriminatory lending practices that create and exacerbate inequity in the federal financial sector,” Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael J. Hsu said. “The OCC’s revised ‘Fair Lending’ booklet is an important tool to promote equal access to credit for all consumers. It frames our supervisory approach applicable to each OCC-supervised bank that engages in lending and provides additional guidance for examiners in this critically important area.”
The booklet provides information and examination procedures to aid OCC examiners in assessing fair lending risk and evaluating compliance with the Fair Housing Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), and Regulation B – the ECOA’s implementing regulation.
The revisions provide new and clarified details and risk factors for a variety of examination scenarios, the OCC noted, adding it also updates supervisory guidance references while addressing sound risk management practices and applicable legal standards.
Additionally, the revised booklet reflects changes to laws and regulations since this booklet was last published; the OCC indicated,
and includes new and clarified details regarding examination scenarios.