Claire Williams

Led by Senate Banking Committee ranking member Tim Scott, R-S.C., GOP members of the Senate Banking Committee say they have concerns about Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg's leadership ability.

The fireworks that traditionally accompany big bank CEOs' appearances in Congress were absent Wednesday, but instead executives pushed their opposition to the Basel III capital rules and its impact on the economy. 

Rep. Patrick McHenry, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, says he won't seek reelection next year. He is known for collaboration with Democrats on stablecoin and other issues.

Republicans and a handful of Democrats in the House and Senate, which already had passed an identical bill, say the data-collection rule would be too onerous for lenders and small-business borrowers. President Biden is expected to veto the legislation.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said that synthetic risk transfers make it easier for banks to accumulate risk, thereby making them less able to absorb losses in a crisis.

During a second day of comparatively mild questioning from lawmakers in semiannual oversight hearings, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra said artificial intelligence could exacerbate existing weaknesses in the financial system without tighter protections.

While House Republicans and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra normally clash, Republicans offered unusual praise for Chopra's efforts around data privacy for consumers.

The financial services industry has run TV ads during football games and organized lobbying visits by small-business owners in its fight against the Basel III endgame plan to raise capital requirements for larger lenders. The tactics are beginning to show signs of working.

Three GOP leaders of the House Financial Services Committee, including Chairman Patrick McHenry, say they'll explore possible connections between the agency's alleged "toxic" work culture and its staffing shortages that may have contributed to this year's banking crisis.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown is the first Democrat to join Republicans in calling for an independent allegations of sexual harassment and other misconduct at the FDIC. The White House called for speedy confirmation of an FDIC inspector general.

House Republicans and lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee questioned the culture at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. after a Wall Street Journal report alleged a climate of sexual harassment and misogyny.

Senate Banking Committee ranking member Tim Scott, R-S.C., released one of his first major public  bank policy pushes in months after formally suspending his presidential campaign.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency said in a long-awaited report that it will set up new guardrails for the Federal Home Loan Banks to ensure that the institutions are serving a housing-centric mission.

Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., said that international cooperation in the Basel III endgame proposal is latest iteration of an opaque standard-setting process.

An Office of Management and Budget memo took issue with cuts to the Treasury Department and an attempt to take the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau into the congressional appropriations process.

The failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic brought to light the Federal Home Loan Banks' role as a 'lender of next-to-last resort.' Some critics say that the review from the Federal Housing Finance Agency should bring the system back to its original purpose of oiling the mortgage finance market. 

The group, which is led by Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., and includes two high-ranking Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee, says the Securities and Exchange Commission's crypto-custody proposal could encroach on banking regulators' jurisdiction.

President Joe Biden's executive order tackling artificial intelligence could reprioritize the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's work in fair lending on artificial intelligence algorithms.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said that House Republican subpoenas seeking information about the finances of the Biden family cross a line in bank data privacy.

Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., a senior Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, said he intends to press Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to refine the Basel III capital proposal before it is finalized.