Category: Active investing
Proposed “fair access” rule seen as a way to force lending to oil & gas and guns Proposed “fair access” rule seen as a way to force lending to oil & gas and guns Proposed “fair access” rule seen as a way to force lending to oil & gas and guns
Jan 6th, 2021
A US banking regulator is facing heavy pressure from Wall Street banks and the US Democrats to drop a controversial plan to prevent banks in the country from excluding sectors such as fossil fuels or guns.
The so-called “fair access” rule was drafted by the US Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) late last November, and some fear it could be rushed through by the current US Administration before President-Elect Biden’s inauguration on 20th January. A four-week consultation closed on Monday.
Steven Rothstein, Managing Director of the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets, which opposes the rule, says US regulatory agencies usually give more time for consultation. “Under a traditional Administration, you wouldn’t be reviewing 4,000 comments 15 days before the new Administration takes post,” he told RI.
As well as preventing banks from having sector-wide lending bans, the rule would allow the OCC to “take …