US regulator OCC hits Wall Street with last-minute lending rule

A ban by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on banks denying services to whole sectors could hit their corporate responsibility efforts

There was a mix of anger and bafflement on Wall Street late on Thursday January 14 as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a US banking regulator, sprung a new rule on the sector in the 11th hour of the administration of outgoing president Donald Trump.

This rule requires banks to risk-assess customers on an individual basis rather than make decisions based on an entire category of customer. It means that banks can no longer adopt policies on the basis of entire industries or types of business activity.