The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has finalized a rule that amends its chartering regulations to clarify that national banks with trust powers are not limited to performing fiduciary activities.
In January, the OCC proposed to update its chartering rules to remove references to “fiduciary activities” in describing what activities a special purpose bank may engage in. The final rule keeps that change and replaces the references with “the operations of a trust company or activities related thereto.”
The American Bankers Association was among 19 commenters on the proposal, with ABA urging the OCC to uphold strong safety and soundness standards, increase transparency in the chartering process, and move cautiously as new regulatory frameworks develop.
The OCC ultimately adopted the rule as proposed. Among the suggested changes it rejected was a call to specify what nonfiduciary activities a national trust bank may engage in, saying that was beyond the scope of its rulemaking.
