In this report, we assess today’s Senate Banking hearing on the nominations of Jelena McWilliams to be Chair of the FDIC, Marvin Goodfriend to be an FRB Governor, and Thomas Workman to be the FSOC voting member with insurance expertise. Ms. McWilliams, a former committee staffer, received a friendly reception from both sides (who know her well). She plans to prioritize reducing community-bank burdens, encouraging de novos, and advancing a regulatory approach to cyber security. She also said that she would like to take “a look” at leverage-capital rules. Late yesterday, the White House made a change to her nomination almost surely resulting in Vice Chair Hoenig leaving the Board when his term expires in April. This should make it considerably easier to finalize inter-agency action implementing the Basel leverage denominator (see FSM Report LEVERAGE11) and advance the agenda announced on Friday by Vice Chairman Quarles.
The full report is available to retainer clients. To find out how you can sign up for the service, click here.