In a letter Friday, the American Bankers Association and 52 state bankers associations urged the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to defend its regulatory authority against state attorneys general and lawmakers. During 2024 state legislative sessions, several states considered—and a few enacted—legislation that would allow state regulators to establish and enforce safety and soundness standards for national banks, including standards dictating when a bank can deny or terminate financial services for current or prospective customers.
The associations in their letter said that competition among state-chartered and national banks is vital to the U.S. economy, and that dual-chartering framework depends on the OCC defending its nearly exclusive national bank visitorial powers from state authorities and “preserving the essential powers of national banks amid a range of harmful and often conflicting state laws.”
“[B]oth the OCC and the Supreme Court have repeatedly recognized national banks’ incidental powers evolve alongside financial innovations and the growing needs of an ever-more complex American economy,” the associations said. “Less national banks quickly be made vulnerable to myriad, often conflicting state laws, the OCC must be and remain vigilant in all situations in which national bank preemption is appropriate.”
