Financial Services Committee to Investigate Alleged False Account Openings

The House Financial Services Committee (the "Committee") launched an investigation into the alleged opening by a bank of unauthorized accounts. As part of the investigation, the Committee will review the roles of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") in overseeing this conduct.

The Committee requested that all relevant records be made available to the CFPB and the OCC and the bank also make available corporate officers for transcribed interviews with Committee staff during the month of September.

In separate letters addressed to CFPB Director Richard Cordray and OCC Comptroller Thomas J. Curry, the Committee requested that the agencies release the following materials:

1. all records relating to allegations of fraudulent or improper activity by the bank and/or its officers, employees, or directors;
2. any documents or communications including, but not limited to, e-mails between either the CFPB or the OCC and bank employees, officers, and/or directors, in the course of the OCC’s review of the bank's sales practices; and
3. any documents detailing supervisory policies and procedures of the OCC and the CFPB that were in force while the bank was initially alleged to have engaged in the fraudulent or improper activity in 2011, which were designed to detect such fraudulent or improper activity from occurring.

The Committee requested that the bank and each federal agency produce the requested records and materials by September 23, 2016.