CFPB leadership decision, fintech's future: Five events to watch next week

Next week may be the official start of summer, but the dog days aren’t here yet.

The banking industry is in for another busy week — with top regulators and bank executives scheduled to speak, along with an old-fashioned cliffhanger regarding the future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Below is a roundup of the most important events to watch next week.

Keep ‘em guessing: Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, the White House must nominate a permanent head of the CFPB by June 22 if the administration wants to keep acting Director Mick Mulvaney at the agency until that person is confirmed.

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

But with less than a week to go, rumors are still flying about who will actually take over.

J. Mark McWatters, the head of the National Credit Union Administration, was the choice as of a couple of months ago, according to sources, but recent reports suggest the Trump administration is having second thoughts. McWatters may still be in the running, but other members of the shortlist have begun recirculating this week, including Todd Zywicki, a professor of law at George Mason University. Also a possibility is retiring Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who is apparently in the running for the job.

When asked if the administration has settled on a choice, most sources say they don’t know. What they are sure of is that the White House will nominate somebody by June 22, if only to give Mulvaney some breathing room.

McWilliams’ debut: Jelena McWilliams, the newly minted chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., will give her first public remarks on Tuesday at a Washington conference on prudential regulation.

It’s unlikely that McWilliams will offer her views on the many challenges facing the FDIC, but her debut in the role could give more clues for how she plans to guide the agency.

The star-studded event (at least by finreg standards) will also include Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting, former acting Comptroller Keith Noreika (who had a knack for making headlines in the role) and the OCC’s deputy comptroller for large-bank supervision, Greg Coleman.

In addition, Mark Van Der Weide, the Federal Reserve’s general counsel, and Michael Gibson, the Fed’s director of supervision and regulation, will be speaking, along with top lobbyists for Citigroup and Morgan Stanley.

Wells apology tour, NY Fed edition: The week will also kick off on Monday with remarks from senior bank executives at an event hosted by the New York Fed.

Wells Fargo Chair Elizabeth Duke will speak on a morning panel about “Finance, Culture and Society” — a topic the bank has, hopefully, been thinking about lately. Outgoing New York Fed Chair William C. Dudley — whose middle name might as well be “culture” given his focus on the issue in recent years — will also sit on the panel, as will James Gorman, chairman and chief executive of Morgan Stanley.

Of course, Wells continues to face ongoing criticism about its handling of its phony accounts — let’s hope Duke can avoid some of the PR missteps that have recently haunted CEO Tim Sloan.

What's next for fintech: It’s possible this will be the week that the Treasury Department finally releases its report on fintech regulation.

The report, which is supposed to look at the oversight of financial startups and other nonbanks, isn’t expected to make any drastic recommendations. But industry observers will likely take any tea leaves they can find. The OCC’s Otting has yet to take an official position on the agency’s efforts to develop a fintech charter, while the FDIC’s McWilliams has been equally mum on how she might address an industrial loan charter application from payment processor Square that is pending at her agency.

“The job of the FDIC is to give each ILC application due consideration,” she said at a confirmation hearing in January.

Cracking down: Lawmakers in the House and Senate are set to hold dueling hearings on financial crime.

One Wednesday afternoon, the Financial Services Committee will hold a subcommittee hearing on illegal uses of virtual currency — a hot topic these days. The Banking Committee, meanwhile, will hold a hearing on money laundering at roughly the same time. Get your dual monitors ready to stream.

It’s possible one or both of these hearings could address an ongoing fight over a House anti-money-laundering bill that had the potential for passage this year before a core provision regarding government collection of information about shell companies was removed. The House banking panel tabled a vote on the bill over the debate on Thursday.