On December 1, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced in Bulletin 2015 – 47 the fees and assessments that will be charged by the OCC for calendar year 2016. The bulletin becomes effective January 1, 2016, and announces the following to all banks:

• For the 2016 assessment year, there will be no inflation adjustment to assessment rates.

• Assessments are due March 31 and September 30, based on call report information as of December 31, 2015, and June 30, 2016, respectively. The assessments cover the six-month periods beginning January 1 and July 1, respectively. For example, the assessment due March 31 covers the period January 1 through June 30.

• The marginal rates of the OCC’s general assessment schedule remain unchanged from last year.

• The OCC sends the assessment invoice, which includes the calculated assessment fee due, and drafts the fee amount on March 31 and September 30. The OCC provides seven business days’ notice of the amount to be drafted from an institution’s designated account. The institution is responsible for ensuring that the account is funded properly on the due dates.

• The OCC continues to charge interest on all payments received after the due date. The interest rate charged is the US Department of the Treasury’s current value of funds rate published quarterly in the Federal Register.

• National banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks that are no longer subject to OCC supervision on or before December 31, 2015, or June 30, 2016, are not subject to the semiannual assessment for the period beginning January 1 or July 1, respectively. Only those institutions leaving the federal banking system before the close of business on those dates avoid paying the semiannual assessment for the period beginning January 1 or July 1, as applicable.

The OCC’s assessment schedule continues to include a surcharge for national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks that require increased supervisory resources. The surcharge ensures that fees reflect the increased cost of supervision applying to those national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks rated 3, 4, or 5 under the Uniform Financial Institutions Rating System. The surcharge also ensures that fees reflect the increased cost of supervision for these same banks under the Risk Management, Operational Controls, Compliance, and Asset Quality Rating System. The surcharge will be determined in tandem with the asset-based assessment on December 31, 2015, and June 30, 2016. Increases or decreases in ratings after December 31, 2015, and June 30, 2016, will be reflected in the subsequent assessment period. The surcharge is to be applied to all components of an institution’s assessment, including book assets, assets under management (for independent trust banks), and receivables attributable (for independent credit card banks). National banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks subject to the surcharge calculate the surcharge by multiplying the sum of the general assessment (based on the institution’s book assets up to $40 billion) and the independent trust bank assessment or the independent credit card bank assessment by 50 percent for 3-rated institutions and 100 percent for 4- and 5-rated institutions.

The bulletin is available here.