Comptroller of the Currency

Chief regulator of national banks, appointed by the President for a five-year term, with Senate confirmation. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the supervisory agency for nationally chartered banks, is the oldest federal regulator of financial institutions. The Comptroller of the Currency also serves as one of the three directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 authorized the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a U.S. Treasury Department agency, to approve non-banking activities of national banks that are determined by the Treasury Department to be "financial in nature," and thus permissible activities for national banks. See also Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.