The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) website is a great source for news and information relating to the national banking system. For instance, on July 26, 2012, the OCC announced that it was taking action against Capital One Bank due to that bank’s failure to provide relief to servicemembers from certain credit obligations when military service interferes with civil liabilities, such as a mortgage. The OCC is an independent bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The OCC is charged with chartering, regulating, and supervising all national banks and federal savings associations. The Comptroller of the Currency is also a director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which insures each depositor up to $250,000 per insured bank. In regulating national banks, the OCC has many powers: The OCC can examine all national banks. The “Examinations” section of the OCC website provides information about the “Bank Supervision Process.” The OCC can approve or deny applications for new charters, branches, or other changes to banking structure. The “Licensing” section of the website contains the OCC’s “Licensing Manuals” and other related information. The OCC can take supervisory actions against national banks that do not comply with laws and regulations. The “Enforcement Actions” section of the OCC website contains a link to the “Enforcement Actions Search Tool,” a database containing enforcement actions and agreements. Using this tool, one can locate any of the final actions which were recently announced by the OCC on July 20, 2012. Additionally, the OCC issues rules and regulations and legal interpretations concerning investments, lending, and other practices. The “Laws and Regulations” section contains this type of information. Additional material contained on the OCC website include the “Comptroller’s Handbook” and information regarding “Bank Appeals.” The “Bank Appeals” section of the website provides a good example of why the OCC website is such an important source of information. In the past, “Bank Appeals Summaries” were reported in the “Appeals Process” section of the Quarterly Journal (available on HeinOnline). However, since 2007, “Bank Appeals Summaries” are only available on the OCC website.
Earlier this week, the University of Houston Law Center was fortunate to have as its guest Professor Daniel Kanstroom of Boston College of Law. An expert in immigration law, he is the Director of the International Human Rights Program, and he both founded and directs the Boston College Immigration and Asylum Clinic. Speaking as the guest of the Houston Journal of International Law’s annual Fall Lecture Series, Professor Kanstroom discussed issues raised in his new book, Aftermath: Deportation Law and the New American Diaspora . Professor Michael Olivas introduced Professor Kanstroom to the audience, and mentioned the fascinating tale of Carlos Marcello, which Professor Kanstroom wrote about in his chapter “The Long, Complex, and Futile Deportation Saga of Carlos Marcello,” in Immigration Stories , a collection of narratives about leading immigration law cases. My interest piqued, I read and was amazed by Kanstroom’s description of one of the most interesting figures in American le
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