Barefoot Innovation Podcast

Today’s show is the second in our series of conversations with leaders of the new Administration in the United States. Rodney Hood is Acting Comptroller of the Currency, at the helm of the OCC until the Senate confirms President Trump’s nominee for the role, Jonathan Gould. I have known Rodney since he was Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration in the first Trump term. He has an exceptional background, having led two federal regulatory agencies, having experience at very large banks but also working with America’s small banks and credit unions, having served on the boards of several fintechs, and also working in numerous ways with nonprofit organizations. 

And remember that the OCC is the oldest of the three U.S. prudential bank regulators – Rodney talks about Abraham Lincoln creating it in 1863 – and it is unique in that it both charters and supervises all national banks. This in turn means it oversees about a thousand small institutions, and also, all the largest banks in the United States. There is a vast difference in the challenges facing the mega-banks versus the community banks, and the OCC has a key vantage point in understanding both.

As Rodney says in our conversation, being “acting” Comptroller does not mean inactive. To the contrary, the OCC is very actively moving forward on a big agenda, including on bank mergers and charters, and on permitting banks to engage with digital assets. He talks about the role of the OCC’s Office of Technology, including its plans for holding office hours meetings with the industry.  He talks about the industry and regulators’ need for sandboxes –safe spaces to test and assess new technologies. He talks about how to reduce regulatory costs and burdens without raising risks. And he emphasizes the need for regulators to convey an explicit message that, in today’s high tech world, banks need to be free to engage in new technology that will improve how they compete, operate, and manage risk. Our conversation covers how banks should work with fintech firms, and how fintechs working with banks need to meet bank-level standards on compliance and risk.

We also talk about the OCC’s commitment to making the banking system inclusive  through efforts like Project REACh, addressing the needs of small businesses,and  the new Treasury Department’s focus on financial and digital literacy. The Acting Comptroller emphasizes the need to evolve our thinking beyond the traditional focus on “financial inclusion” to the broader need to foster overall financial wellbeing, so that people can save, invest, make good decisions, and lead thriving financial lives.

Our conversation also explores how the OCC, itself, is thinking about modernizing its own technology, including how to leverage both AI and digital ledger technology, in its own work. 

Before we turn to the episode, I want to share that we at AIR have big events coming up that we invite you to join. One is our June Battlefront exercise on AI and fraud, and another is our incredibly exciting Converge conference set for September 16. They are both open now for registration at AIR’s website – RegulationInnovation.org, and we are also welcoming sponsors for Converge, so please plan to join us!

More on Rodney Hood

Rodney Hood became Acting Comptroller of the Currency on February 10, 2025. As Acting Comptroller of the Currency, he is the administrator of the federal banking system and chief executive officer of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC ensures that the federal banking system operates in a safe and sound manner, provides fair access to financial services, treats customers fairly, and complies with applicable laws and regulations.

More for Our Listeners

Upcoming Podcasts

We have wonderful upcoming episodes. We’ll have SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, who will talk with us about the crypto task force she is leading. We will have Tyler Williams, who is Counselor to the Treasury Secretary for Digital Assets. We’ll have a discussion with Saket Narayan of AWS, about how to modernize the regulators’ own technology. We’ll have a show with Aishah Ahmad on digital financial services and consumer protection in West Africa, relating to the work AIR is doing in that region. And much more!

Upcoming AIR Events

We also have four fantastic AIR events planned for the coming months. 

AI fraud Battlefront: Fighting fire with fire:  First, in our continuing body of work on fraud and scams, we will be convening an exercise June 23-24 in Washington DC called Battlefront, a war games style competition between fraud attackers and defenders, all using AI. If you’re interested in participating, please apply! 

Fighting Fraud in West Africa:  Next, we’re heading to Lagos July 8-9 for a Payments & Fraud Policy Sprint, following up on the learnings from the TechSprint we did last year on payments fraud and consumer protection. 

Calling all Regulators / Meet in London: We are excited to be offering a four day learning program in London in the autumn, inviting regulators and central banks from around the world. The program shares AIR’s Innovation Elements methodology that regulators can use to build your innovation capabilities. 

Converge Conference in Washington D.C.:  And finally, again, I hope everyone will plan now to join us in Washington D.C. on September 16 for AIR’s inaugural financial regulatory conference, Converge: Creating the Future of Financial Regulation. September will be perfect timing to host some very provocative conversations among top leaders in finance, regulation and technology – and to enable participants to talk and work together about fresh thinking for regulation in a tech-enabled financial world.

If your organization would like to be a sponsor, please reach out to us – we would love to talk with you about opportunities.

Upcoming Speaking Events by AIR’s team

I’ll be speaking at the CSBS/AARMR Mortgage Policy Summit in the U.S. I’ll also be speaking in June on AI at the American Bankers Association’s Regulatory Compliance Conference – the fabled RCC – in Indianapolis. I’m also looking forward to speaking at the National Foundation for Credit Counseling’s annual conference, in Washington in August. 

Meanwhile, you’ll find members of our international AIR team speaking at the Responsible Finance Forum (RFF) in South Africa, the 2025 RegTechAfrica Conference in Nigeria, and also at Money 20/20 Europe in the Netherlands. 

Here’s a full list of speaking engagements and events.

And remember, please give us a 5 star rating on your favorite podcast platform.