Office of Comptroller of the Currency 

Program Summary by Budget Activity 

(Dollars in thousands) 

FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010 Appropriation Obligated Estimated Estimated $ Change % Change

 Supervise $565,921 $647,400 $693,285 $45,885 7.09%

 Regulate $87,583 $102,343 $109,597 $7,254 7.09%

 Charter $20,212 $25,586 $27,399 $1,813 7.09%

Total Cost of Operations $673,716 $775,329 $830,281 $54,952 7.09%

*FY 2010 data provided for informational purposes only. The budget information presented below is for FY 2009. 

Explanation of Budget Estimate 

 

As of December 31, 2008, The Office of the 

Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) 

supervised approximately 1,605 national bank 

charters and 50 federal branches of foreign 

banks in the United States (U.S.). Total assets 

under the OCC supervision were 

approximately $8.7 trillion or 70 percent of 

total U.S. commercial banking assets. The 

average size and complexity of the institutions 

in the national banking system continue to 

grow, creating increasing and diverse 

challenges for the OCC. 

The OCC’s priorities for fiscal year (FY) 2009 

include conducting examinations based on the 

risk profile of individual national banks to 

ensure they are safe and sound, sufficiently 

capitalized, and comply with consumer 

protection laws. The OCC is working closely 

with the Department of Treasury to implement 

provisions of the Emergency Economic 

Stabilization Act (ESSA) of 2008 and the 

administration’s Financial Stability Plan. 

Other significant activities include assessing 

national banks’ compliance with BSA/AML 

and USA PATRIOT Act requirements, 

addressing issues raised by the range of retail 

banking products offered by national banks, 

and identifying and ensuring appropriate 

follow-up to continued disruption and 

volatility in the financial and credit markets. 

The latter activities include work underway 

with other global supervisors to enhance the 

risk-based Basel II capital standards in 

response to the recent market turmoil and 

coordination among the federal banking 

agencies to oversee the implementation of 

those standards at large U.S. banking 

organizations. Coordination and cooperation 

with state regulators will be a significant focus 

for the agency. Filling key experienced and 

specialty examiner and bank supervision 

policy analyst positions, recruiting entry-level 

examiners and enhancing their retention at the 

critical three/four-year point of their careers, 

and continuing to develop the next generation 

of bank supervision leadership are also critical 

initiatives of the OCC. 

In FY 2009, an estimated $775,329,000 is 

needed to fund ongoing OCC operations and 

address program priorities effectively. 

Estimated OCC revenue for FY 2009 is 

$784,000,000. 

The OCC collects revenue primarily from 

semiannual assessments levied on national 

banks. The OCC receives no appropriated 

funds from Congress. 

Purpose of Program 

 

The OCC was created by Congress to charter 

national banks, to oversee a nationwide system 

of banking institutions, and to ensure that 

national banks are safe and sound, competitive 

Department of the Treasury - Budget in Brief FY 2010 Page 87
and profitable, and capable of serving in the 

best possible manner the banking needs of 

their customers. 

As the regulator of national banks, the OCC 

has established four strategic goals that help 

support a strong economy for the American 

public: 1) a safe and sound national banking 

system; 2) fair access to financial services and 

fair treatment of bank customers; 3) a flexible 

legal and regulatory framework that enables 

the national banking system to provide a full 

competitive array of financial services; and 4) 

an expert, highly motivated, and diverse 

workforce that makes effective use of OCC 

resources. The OCC organizes its activities 

under three programs: Supervise, Regulate, 

and Charter, to achieve the goals and 

objectives outlined in its strategic plan. 

Explanation of Budget Activities 

 

Supervise ($647,400,000 from reimbursable 

programs): The Supervise program consists 

of those ongoing supervision and enforcement 

activities undertaken to ensure that each 

national bank is operating in a safe and sound 

manner and is complying with applicable laws, 

rules, and regulations relative to the bank and 

the customers and communities it serves. This 

program includes bank examinations and 

enforcement activities; resolution of disputes 

through the National Bank Appeals process; 

ongoing monitoring of banks; and analysis of 

systemic risks and market trends in the 

national banking system or groups of national 

banks, the financial services industry, and the 

economic and regulatory environment. 

Regulate ($102,343,000 from reimbursable 

programs): The Regulate program consists of 

those ongoing activities that result in the 

establishment of regulations, policies, 

operating guidance, and interpretations of 

general applicability to national banks. These 

regulations, policies, and interpretations may 

establish system-wide standards, define 

acceptable banking practices, provide 

guidance on risks and responsibilities facing 

national banks, or prohibit (or restrict) banking 

practices deemed to be imprudent or unsafe. 

This program includes the establishment of 

examination policies, handbooks, and 

interpretations for examiners as well as 

representation of the OCC’s regulatory 

authorities and interpretations in 

administrative, judicial, and congressional 

hearings. 

Charter ($25,586,000 from reimbursable 

programs): The Charter program involves 

those ongoing activities that result in the 

chartering of national banks as well as the 

evaluation of the permissibility of structures 

and activities of national banks and their 

subsidiaries. This includes the review and 

approval of new national bank charters, federal 

branches and agencies, mergers, acquisitions, 

conversions, business combinations, corporate 

reorganizations, changes in control, operating 

subsidiaries, branches, relocations, and 

subordinated debt issues. 

Legislative Proposals 

 

OCC currently has no legislative proposals. 

Capital Investments Summary 

 

In FY 2008, OCC implemented the Workflow 

and Information Systems and Document 

Manager (WISDM). WISDM streamlines the 

Large Bank Supervision (LBS) supervisory 

processes, improves collaboration, and 

enhances the security of sensitive documents 

while providing the OCC management greater 

visibility into the status of ongoing 

Department of the Treasury - Budget in Brief FY 2010 Page 88
examinations. The system will provides LBS 

examiners and management the ability to 

collaboratively develop, securely store, search, 

and report on the status of their work 

documents. Enhancements and upgrades to 

WISDM continue into FY 2009. 

The OCC continues to develop an HSPD-12 

program for Smartcard ID issuance and 

subsequent use of that card for both physical 

access to OCC facilities and logical access to 

OCC information systems. The OCC 

continued its close coordination with the 

Treasury HSPD-12 Program Management 

Office and General Services Administration 

(GSA) Managed Service Office to implement 

the Treasury Enterprise Solution for HSPD-12. 

This Treasury and GSA solution will satisfy 

goals pertaining to the E-Government 

initiatives for sharing government-wide 

services and those goals relating to ensuring 

the interoperability of the HSPD-12 

credentials across the Government. 

The OCC Information Security program 

expanded to enable increased focus on policy, 

compliance, training, technical oversight and 

audit. A revised Federal Information Security 

Management Act (FISMA) compliant IT 

Security Policy was published. In addition to 

aligning the OCC information security 

program with FISMA requirements, the new 

security policy establishes a framework for 

addressing other information security related 

issues. 

OCC Performance by Budget Activity 

FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010

Budget Activity Performance Measure Actual Actual Actual Target 

Met? Target Target

Percentage of national banks that are Supervision categorized as well-capitalized (%) (Oe) 99 99 99 Yes 95 95 

Percentage of national banks with 

Supervision composite CAMELS rating of 1 or 2 (%) 

(Oe) 

95 96 92 Yes 90 90 

Percentage of national banks with 

Supervision consumer compliance rating of 1 or 2 

(%) (Oe) 

94 97 97 Yes 94 94 

Rehabilitated national banks as a 

percentage of the problem national banks Supervision one year ago (CAMELS 3, 4 or 5) (%) 

(Oe) 

46 52 47 Yes 40 40 

Percentages of licensing applications and 

Charter notices completed within established 

timeframes. (%)(Oe) 

96 94 95 Yes 95 95 

Key: Oe - Outcome Measure, E - Efficiency Measure, Ot - Output/Workload Measure, and M - Management/Cust. Satisfaction 

Description of Performance 

 

While the national banking system remains 

fundamentally sound, the effects of 

disruption and volatility in the financial and 

credit markets are working through the 

financial system. At the beginning of FY 

2009, banks rated 1 or 2 represented 92 

percent of all national banks. However, the 

impact of economic conditions on national 

banks will likely result in a decline from that 

level. As of September 30, 2008, 99 percent 

of national banks were classified as well 

capitalized and 97 percent had a consumer 

compliance rating of either 1 or 2. 

Bank regulatory agencies use the Uniform 

Financial Institutions Rating System, 

CAMELS, to provide a general framework 

for evaluating all significant financial, 

Department of the Treasury - Budget in Brief FY 2010 Page 89
operational and compliance factors inherent 

in a bank. Evaluations are made on Capital 

adequacy, Asset quality, Management, 

Earnings, Liquidity, and Sensitivity to 

market risk. The rating scale is 1 through 5 

of which 1 is the best rating granted. 

CAMELS ratings are assigned at the 

completion of every supervisory cycle or 

when there is a significant event leading to a 

change in CAMELS. Although the absolute 

number of problem banks increased in FY 

2008, during that period 47 percent of banks 

with composite CAMELS rating of 3, 4, or 5 

improved their ratings to either 1 or 2. This 

exceeded the OCC goal of 40 percent. 

The OCC’s timely and effective approval of 

corporate applications contributes to the 

nation’s economy by enabling national 

banks to complete various corporate 

transactions and introduce new financial 

products and services. Delays in providing 

prompt decisions on applications and notices 

can deprive a bank of a competitive or 

business opportunity, create business 

uncertainties, or diminish financial results. 

Time frames have been established for 

completing each type of application and 

notice. The OCC completed 95 percent of 

applications and notices within the time 

standard through September 30, 2008. 

Institutions receiving decisions on their 

corporate applications and notices rated the 

OCC’s overall licensing services an average 

of 1.2. The licensing survey is based on a 

five-point rating scale, in which 1 indicates 

outstanding and 5 indicates significantly 

deficient. 

Beginning in FY 2006, the OCC 

implemented a performance measure that 

reflects the efficiency of its operations while 

meeting the increasing supervisory demands 

of a growing and more complex national 

banking system. This measure supports the 

OCC’s strategic goal of efficient use of 

agency resources. The OCC’s ability to 

control its costs while ensuring the safety 

and soundness of the banking system 

benefits all national bank customers. 

Department of the Treasury - Budget in Brief FY 2010 Page 90