An interim reduction of assessments charged by the federal regulator of national banks goes into effect Sept. 7, to be reflected in assessments paid Sept. 30, the agency said in a release Friday.
The Sept. 7 effective date was noted by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for what appears to be the first time Friday. In its June 24 Federal Register notice outlining the rule, the agency said the interim final rule was effective June 24 through Oct. 15.
In June, the agency adopted an interim final rule stating that assessments due Sept. 30 from banks and thrifts the OCC regulates would be based on year-end 2019 call report data, rather than mid-year 2020 data. Typically, the agency uses the mid-year numbers to set the assessments.
The assessments cover the operations of the OCC. The agency has indicated the interim reduction was being made to lessen the impact on banks of the coronavirus crisis.
Beyond using numbers that will be nine months old by the time the assessments are released, the OCC said in June, it is also giving banks that have seen a decline in assets since mid-year (compared to year-end 2019) a break as well. The OCC said that if a bank’s assets as reported on the June 30, 2020, call report are lower than on the Dec. 31, 2019, call report, the agency will calculate the assessment due on Sept. 30, 2020, for the bank using the mid-year call report numbers (that is, from the June 30, 2020, report).
The agency also notes that the one-time reduction in the assessments, as outlined in the bulletin it issued in June on the subject, follows at least two permanent assessment rate reductions made over the last two years: the 10% reduction for the 2019 assessment year and the additional 10% reduction in the assessment rate schedule for 2020.
After Sept. 30, semiannual assessments will be based on the total assets shown in each institution’s most recent call report preceding the payment date, according to the OCC.