WASHINGTON–The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has added a new position, climate change risk officer, reflecting the Biden Administration’s expanded focus on the issue. The OCC also announced it was joining a global group assessing “greening” of financial systems.
The move comes at the same time NCUA has reportedly also sought to expand its focus on climate change and related risk, but it had to dial back at least temporarily some plans it was making due to disagreements among the NCUA board members.
CUToday.info was told by one source the reason the agency pulled the planned discussion of its 2022-26 strategic plan was due to components related to climate change. Chairman Todd Harper, a Democratic nominee, has stated on several occasions his views around the risks posed by climate change to credit unions. But as a Democrat Harper is in the minority on the board, with fellow board members Kyle Hauptman and Rodney Hood both Republican appointees.
Part of ‘Holistic Effort’
The OCC has named Darrin Benhart to the climate change risk officer position, saying the appointment is part of the agency’s “holistic efforts” to ensure the federal banking system “proactively manages the financial risks of climate change and its efforts to improve its energy efficiency and reduce its overall carbon footprint, which align with broader efforts across the federal government.”
The position will report to the senior deputy comptroller for supervision risk and analysis.
Benhart, who joined the OCC in 1992, is moving into the position after previously serving as the OCC’s large bank supervision area on the team overseeing Bank of America. He previously served as deputy comptroller for supervision risk management, chairing the OCC’s National Risk Committee, which identifies primary and emerging areas of risk to the national bank system, and “ensuring that the risks are communicated throughout the agency and to the industry.”
The OCC said he has also served as deputy comptroller for credit and market risk, where he was a principal advisor on risks facing the banking system and set policies for the OCC’s commercial and retail credit policy units.
OCC Joins Group
In addition, the OCC announced it has joined the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), a group of central banks and supervisors established in 2017 at the Paris One Planet Summit.
The organization noted that members of nations that belong to the group do so voluntarily in order to “share best practices and contribute to the development of environment and climate and risk management in the financial sector and to mobilize mainstream finance support the transition toward a sustainable economy.”
More than 90 central banks and supervisors, including the Federal Reserve, already belong to the group.
The OCC said it is joining the NGFS to collaborate with central banks and peer supervisors to share best practices and contribute to the development of climate risk management in the financial sector.
One State Regulator’s Call
As CUToday.info reported here, https://www.cutoday.info/Fresh-Today/Washington-s-State-Regulator-Calls-on-FIs-to-Begin-Integrating-Climate-Change-into-Risk-Management Washington’s state credit union regulator recently called on financial institutions to begin integrating climate change into their risk management plans.