Joseph Otting

Joseph Michael Otting (born 1957) is an American businessman and government official. He served as the 31st Comptroller of the Currency from November 27, 2017 to May 29, 2020.

Otting grew up in Maquoketa, Iowa, the son of Grace and James Otting.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in management from the University of Northern Iowa, which he received in 1981. He is also a graduate of the School of Credit and Financial Management, a multi-year program that includes four-weeks of classroom instruction offered by the National Association of Credit Management, which was held at Dartmouth College at the time he attended in 1992.

Otting started his career at Bank of America, where he held positions in branch management, preferred banking, and commercial lending. From 1986 to 2001, Otting was with Union Bank, where he held roles including deputy regional vice president, senior vice president, executive vice president, and group head of commercial banking.

Between 2001 and 2010, Otting worked for U.S. Bank, a subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp. Otting served as Market President of U.S. Bank in Oregon from December 2001 to June 2003 and as Executive Vice President and Manager of East Region Commercial Banking Group from June 2003 to April 2005. Until his departure in 2010, he served as one of eight Vice Chairman, as the head of the Commercial Banking Group. In addition, during his tenure, he led U.S. Bank's efforts in California as the senior executive responsible for expansion in the region.

Otting was president, CEO, and a board member of OneWest Bank, N.A., from October 2010 until August 2015, when the bank merged with CIT Group, which purchased OneWest Bank for $3.4 billion, following regulatory approval. He served as President of CIT Bank and co-president of CIT Group from August 2015 to December 2015.

At OneWest, he worked closely with the bank's founder, Steven Mnuchin, who later became the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Mnuchin led a group that purchased the California-based residential lender, IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB, on March 19, 2009, from the FDIC to create OneWest, FSB, with the intent of turning around the failed bank. The FDIC established IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB, in 2008 when IndyMac Bank, F.S.B., failed and oversaw its operations through the sale which created OneWest, FSB. OneWest Bank, FSB, converted to a national bank and was renamed OneWest Bank, N.A., in February 2014, as the bank transitioned from a residential lender to a full-service bank.

In 2011, Otting signed a consent order, in conjunction with 14 other large bank mortgage servicers, with the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision regarding the bank's mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices. The OCC terminated that order on July 21, 2015, after determining that the bank “satisfied the terms of the 2011 foreclosure-related consent order” and completed the independent foreclosure review in accordance with the requirements included in the original 2011 order. OneWest did not enter into a payment agreement with the OCC, and in April 2014, the OCC published a report showing that an independent consultant found a relatively low error rate in the bank's mortgage and foreclosure activity covered by the regulator's order. When Otting left CIT in December 2015, the Wall Street Journal calculated that he earned $24.9 million in compensation for 2015, including a $12 million severance payment.