OCC to Support Bank ‘Dynamism’ Through Mergers, Crypto Entrants

A key US regulator is pushing to revitalize the banking industry — encouraging mergers, new charters and crypto entrants — in a bid to reverse a decline in the growth of small lenders.

“In the past 18 years, we haven’t had a lot of dynamism in the banking system,” Jonathan Gould, the head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency,said Tuesday at Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit in New York. He added that half the number of US banks with less than $1 billion in assets have been “blinked out of existence” since 2010.

Jonathan Gould, comptroller of the currency

Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

Gould said ...