Per a July 2 announcement,
the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) are opening up virtual hours for
industry players looking to discuss innovation and new technologies in
banking. 


More venues for crypto to meet with regulators


The
new meetings will be capped at one hour in length and are currently
slated for just two days, July 29-30. Those interested need to register
by July 17. 

Depending on the success of these meetings, they may
become a more regular feature. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s
FinHub recently announced virtual meetups to build on a longer tradition of peer-to-peer engagement. 

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission similarly held one-off meetings in February, before COVID-19 lockdowns took hold around the U.S.


Rising engagement with fintech at OCC under Brooks


Today’s
announcement follows a host of pro-fintech and crypto moves from the
OCC since Brian Brooks, formerly of Coinbase’s legal team, became acting head of the office. 

Brooks is notable for his interest in onboarding crypto capabilities onto the traditional banking system. 

Earlier this week, the OCC released its semi-annual risk
perspective — a recurring report highlighting the state of the banking
industry. This edition made special mention of threats amid the COVID-19
pandemic and risks of working remotely, warning against “heightened
cyber security risks, and potential fraud related to stimulus
programs.” 

“This is a trend that we saw highlighted prior to
COVID-19 in January of this year,” a member of the OCC’s staff told
Cointelegraph. “Clearly covid-19 has opened up a whole new avenue for
[bad actors].”

source link :  https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-banking-regulator-invites-innovators-to-talk-tech-virtually