OCC Removes Disparate Impact Provisions from Exam Manual

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a bulletin and revised a fair lending examination manual to remove references to disparate impact liability.

The President issued an executive order in April 2025 stating that agencies must eliminate the use of disparate impact liability to the fullest extent allowed by law and must deprioritize enforcement activity based on disparate impact (see prior coverage here).  The OCC has now revised its Comptroller’s Handbook on Fair Lending to strike sections discussing examination procedures related to disparate impact. The OCC also stated that it has started removing such references from other publications and has instructed its examiners that they should no longer examine for disparate impact.  Notwithstanding these changes, the OCC noted that banks should still conduct regular fair lending risk assessments and analyses, and they must take appropriate action if evidence of disparate treatment is found.