OCC Announces Climate Change Risk Officer, Membership in the NGFS — 2021-07-27

WASHINGTON—The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today announced the appointment of Darrin Benhart as its Climate Change Risk Officer and its membership in the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS). “Prudently managing climate change risk is a safety and a soundness issue,” said Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael J. Hsu. “The changes announced today will enable the agency to be more proactive in accelerating the development and adoption of robust climate change risk management practices, especially at the larger banks.” In May, Acting Comptroller Hsu indicated that the agency would be taking a two-pronged approach to act on climate change: engaging and learning from others and supporting the development and adoption of effective climate risk management practices at banks. Today’s moves facilitate action on both fronts. As the primary prudential regulator of approximately 70 percent of the assets in the U.S.