Al Drago/Bloomberg
WASHINGTON — Leading Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee asked Republicans to remove “reputational risk” as a factor that examiners consider when they oversee banks.
The Republicans, led by Rep. Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania — who leads the subcommittee on oversight and investigations — alongside House Financial Services Chairman French Hill and other subcommittee leads Reps. Andy Barr of Kentucky and Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, pressed acting Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Travis Hill to move forward on efforts that the Republicans said would help in
“We are concerned that if we do not make the necessary changes, future administrations will continue to operate under the Choke Point playbook using the supervisory process to debank disfavored industries,” the lawmakers said.
The lawmakers said they were particularly concerned about banks that don’t serve the cryptocurrency industry.
They asked that banking agencies’ guidance be written and publicly disclosed, that banking agencies figure out a way to allow banks to provide customers’ with explanations when their accounts are closed and that reputational risk — a term that banks have long complained is murky and subjective — be removed from the “management” category of bank regulators’ CAMELS rating system.
The Republican lawmakers said that some of their requests might need to be legislated, and asked for FDIC’s Hill to give recommendations.
“We also understand that some of these recommendations may require an act of Congress for you to utilize them,” the lawmakers said. “In that case, please let us know which recommendations you believe require an act of Congress to help better inform our legislative efforts.”