Opening Shot? OCC ‘Pauses Publication’ of Fair Banking Access Rule

[Elderberry]

Liberty Park Press by Dave Workman January 29, 2021

Has Joe Biden fired the first subtle shot in his war on guns by “interfering in the affairs” of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and pausing publication of a new rule designed to protect small businesses “fair access” to bank surfaces?

That’s what The Outdoor Wire is reporting. After the OCC “paused publication” if the new rule, an official with the National Shooting Sports Foundation ripped the move.

“The first salvo in the gun control fight has begun and the Biden Administration has fired the first shot by improperly interfering in the affairs of the OCC which is an independent agency,” National Shooting Sport Foundation’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel Larry Keane.

The OCC put things on hold less than two weeks after NSSF hailed finalizing the rule ending discrimination “by financial service providers against the firearm industry and others.”

At the time, Keane noted in a statement, “NSSF has championed fair access to financial services for the firearm and ammunition industry and is pleased to witness the end of unfair and politically-motivated discriminatory practices by banking institutions that have a legal duty to service all legal businesses. This rule will ensure large financial institutions that are supported by taxpayer-funded resources like insurances must provide fair and equal access to services based on their objective financial creditworthiness, and not based on ‘woke’ political considerations.”

But those good spirits have changed dramatically.

More: https://www.libertyparkpress.com/opening-shot-occ-pauses-publication-of-fair-banking-access-rule/

[Elderberry]

Biden admin blocks Trump rule that protected gun industry from bank discrimination

American Military News by Liz George   February 01, 2021

https://americanmilitarynews.com/2021/02/biden-admin-blocks-trump-rule-that-protected-gun-industry-from-bank-discrimination/

The Biden administration halted a Trump-era rule last week that was written to ensure “risky” industries such as the firearms industry would receive fair consumer access to banking services from large national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign bank organizations.

The Trump-era rule was set to take effect April 1, but the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced the hold on Thursday despite over a decade of OCC guidance that advised banks “should conduct risk assessments of individual customers, rather than make broad-based decisions affecting whole categories or classes of customers, when providing access to services, capital, and credit.”

The rule included language from Title III of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which made “assuring the safety and soundness of, and compliance with laws and regulations, fair access to financial services and fair treatment of customers by, the institutions and other persons subject to its jurisdiction” the OCC’s mission. The statute also notably separated fair access from fair treatment.

[txradioguy]

The opening shot in what's about to come down from President Executive Order.