The OCC issued two regulations
that reflect fundamental characteristics of the national banking system. The
first clarifies what types of state laws apply to national banks, while the
second clarifies issues related to the OCC's exclusive visitorial powers over
national banks. As part of the rulemaking on the applicability of state laws to
national banks, the OCC also established a strong standard to ensure that
predatory lending does not gain a foothold in the national banking system. The
OCC took this step despite widespread agreement that predatory lending remains a
problem for unregulated financial institutions, rather than for regulated
commercial banks.
The OCC published a number of
documents explaining the rulemakings on national bank preemption and the OCC's
visitorial powers, including:
