Curry won’t rock the OCC preemption boat

We recently reported that as of July 21, the OCC finalized its reg confirming the view of Acting Comptroller Walsh that the Dodd-Frank Act did not require the OCC to rescind or modify its broad preemption regs. Those regs have enabled national banks to largely ignore state consumer protection laws. While there is still uncertainty as to whether the courts will defer to the OCC, one major concern—whether the next Comptroller of the Currency, likely to be the President’s appointee Thomas Curry—seems to have dissipated. During his Senate confirmation hearing last week, Curry certainly gave the impression that he is a strong advocate of the national bank charter and that he is unlikely to make any changes regarding preemption. That, of course, remains to be seen.