The OCC’s Risk Outlook

This week the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published its Semiannual Risk Perspective, which gives bank compliance officers and risk managers an important glimpse into the federal banking agency’s current outlook on risk.

Here is a brief summary of the report.

The Basics of the OCC’s Semiannual Risk Perspective

Every six months, the OCC’s National Risk Committee (NRC) issues the agency’s Semiannual Risk Perspective. According to the introduction to the Perspective, the NRC is made up of senior OCC supervisory and policy officials who meet quarterly.

The NRC is responsible for monitoring “the condition of the federal banking system and identifying key risks,” as well as monitoring emerging threats.

This Spring 2018 Semiannual Risk Perspective was published on May 24, 2018, and is based on data as of March 31, 2018, except where otherwise noted.

Overall Report Card

The Perspective’s Executive Summary provides an overall status of the banking system:

• Condition of Federal Banking System: Strong
• Comparison of System’s Condition: 2017 and 2018 show improvement over 2016
• Economic Environment: Supports loan growth and profitability
• Asset Quality: Sound
• Capital and Liquidity: Near historical highs
• Earnings: Improving
• Overall Risk Management Practices: Incrementally improving

On Operational Risk

The OCC reports that “Operational Risk is elevated as banks adapt business models, transform technology and operating processes, and respond to evolving cyber threats.”

Specific threats to operational risk include the following:

• Ever increasing threat of cyber attacks
• Growing bank reliance on third-party vendors to perform critical functions
• Concentration of third-party risk due to the “consolidation among large technology service providers”
• Evolving business and operating models that include new delivery channels, products, and services

On Compliance Risk

The OCC warns that Compliance Risk “remains elevated,” with particular concern in the following areas:

• Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) Compliance Challenges: The combination of the “dynamic nature” of money laundering along with “evolving delivery channels” makes complying with the BSA difficult. The OCC warns banks that are “engaging in such offerings” to refine and update their BSA compliance programs to ensure they are adequately mitigating the associated risks.
• BSA and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Compliance Risk Management Systems: The OCC notes that, such BSA/AML risk management systems “often do not keep pace with evolving risks, resource constraints, changes in business models, and regulatory changes.”
• OFAC Sanctions: The OCC questions whether bank OFAC compliance programs are keeping pace with the increasing number and complexity of sanctions programs.
• Overall Regulatory Complexity: The number of amended regulations and/or highly complex requirements continue to present challenges for banks.
• Specific Complexity of TRID: The OCC acknowledges the continued bank struggle to incorporate the Truth-in-Lending RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) forms.

On Interest Rate Risk

The OCC states that, “There is uncertainty in how bank deposits will react to increasing interest rates. Banks may experience unexpected adverse shifts in liability mix or increasing costs that may adversely affect earnings or increase liquidity risk.”

Read the OCC’s complete Semiannual Risk Perspective for Spring 2018 for an even more in-depth analysis of the current state of banking in the United States.