About the OCC:

Lawrence O. Murray
Comptroller of the Currency, 1908 - 1913

Attorney Lawrence O. Murray had extensive government service prior to his appointment as Comptroller by President Theodore Roosevelt. During his tenure, the size of the national banking system prompted Congress to authorize appointment of a second deputy comptroller. In the interim before Murray's successor took office, the Federal Reserve Act was passed. The act created 12 Federal Reserve Districts, with the Comptroller designating a district chief national bank examiner for each district under whom a corps of examiners and assistants worked. Examiners were to be compensated by salary and expenses rather than fees levied on the banks they examined.

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.