The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency earlier this month sent formal letters to large and regional banks seeking information about sales practices and incentive-compensation structures following the Wells Fargo scandal.  JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup were among the recipients, as were regional banks under the OCC’s supervision, including Santander USA, the 29th largest U.S. bank by assets.  The banks have 2 weeks to respond.

Comptroller Thomas Curry said during a 9/20/16 Senate Banking Committee hearing that the regulator would “review the sales practices of all the large and midsize banks the OCC supervises and assess the sufficiency of controls with respect to these practices.” He referred to it as a “horizontal review,” meaning it spans across many banks.  At the same hearing, CFPB Director Richard Cordray said his agency “will certainly follow up as aggressively here” as its other bank investigations.

Some of these banks also fielded questions from the Federal Reserve about similar topics prior to Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s testimony at a contentious House Financial Services committee hearing on bank regulation. Ms. Yellen said in her 9/28/16 testimony that the Fed has launched a broad review of big-bank compliance regimes.