About the OCC:

Edward S. Lacey
Comptroller of the Currency, 1889 - 1892

Edward S. Lacey had been a banker for 25 years and served two terms as a congressman from Michigan before being selected as Comptroller by President Benjamin Harrison. His term was marked by the "monetary stringency" of 1890, a crisis caused by a dramatic contraction of the money supply after a period of expansion. Although confidence was restored by the extension of credit by eastern clearing houses and the Treasury Department, the crisis foreshadowed the more serious panic of 1893. Lacey resigned to become president of a large national bank in Chicago that he had organized.

Comptrollers of the Currency

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency was created by Congress to charter national banks, to oversee a nationwide system of banking institutions, and to assure that national banks are safe and sound, competitive and profitable, and capable of serving in the best possible manner the banking needs of their customers.