WASHINGTON–The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has hired what some are calling its first “climate cop.”
The OCC said it has named Dr. Yue Chen as its inaugural chief climate risk officer. Chen will focus on “developing a new system to assess climate-driven risks to banks, and figure out how to monitor and manage them,” the OCC said in announcing the hiring.
“Climate change, including global warming and increasingly severe and unpredictable weather events, makes it harder for banks to figure out how much money to lend to real estate and business deals, and how to price those loans,” noted the New York Times. “Advocates of climate-driven financial oversight say that a catastrophic weather event that caused larger-than-expected losses to banks could threaten the stability of the financial system.”
Evolution of Position
The move has been largely driven by Democratic lawmakers who have been warning about climate change, the report added.
In 2021 the OCC designated one of its bank supervisors to serve as a climate risk officer with a charge of encouraging banks to consider climate risks in their daily operations. Now, the OCC said it is expanding that role by adding Chen to the new post. She will oversee the regulator’s office of climate risk and report directly to Acting Comptroller Michael Hsu.
Degree From MIT
Chen has a doctorate in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and worked at Goldman Sachs in the firm’s asset management business and at the Royal Bank of Canada before becoming the New York director of conservation investments for the Nature Conservancy.
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