Waters schedules hearings next month on Facebook, BB&T-SunTrust merger

WASHINGTON — The House Financial Services Committee has scheduled hearings next month to examine the proposed merger of BB&T and SunTrust Banks and Facebook’s plans for a cryptocurrency.

The full committee will meet July 17 for a hearing to examine Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency and its impact on consumers, investors and the U.S. financial system. That comes a day after a similar hearing in the Senate Banking Committee, which was announced last week almost immediately after Facebook announced its crypto plans.

On July 24, the House banking panel will meet for a separate hearing, "The Next Megabank?," to examine the impacts of the BB&T-SunTrust deal on consumers and the economy.

Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., took issue with the BB&T-SunTrust deal, calling on regulators last month to delay approval of it until Congress studies it. The combined company is to be called Truist Financial.

Both Waters and Ranking Member Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., called last week for Facebook to testify on its crypto plans. Waters suggested the social media giant’s recent privacy scandals make it a poor choice to launch a financial network.

Other hearings scheduled next month are a full committee hearing on monetary policy and the state of the economy and a subcommittee hearing on companies’ environmental, social and governance disclosures July 10.

The new fintech task force will hold a hearing on alternative data and underwriting in credit scoring on July 24.