Travis Hill confirmed as FDIC chair

• Key insight: Travis Hill was confirmed by the Senate as part of an en blanc nominations package Thursday night. 
• Forward look: Hill is expected to continue tailoring rules for small banks and lowering barriers for fintech and crypto to enter the mainstream banking system. 
• What’s at stake: Bank groups also cited merger review and indexing regulatory thresholds as their key near-term priorities for the FDIC. 

WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Travis Hill to lead the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., affirming him as part of a slate of nominations that were approved by a mostly party-line vote of 53-43 Thursday night. 

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In addition to Hill, the slate of nominations also included Michael Selig to be chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as well as several lower-level Housing and Urban Development and Treasury Department posts. 

The banking industry generally cheered the confirmation. Hill is a known quantity, having served as an FDIC board member since 2022 and having worked for former FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams prior to that. His performance as acting chair, so far, has largely been in sync with the banking industry. 

“Hill’s success in key leadership roles — including acting chair, vice chair and deputy to Chairman McWilliams for policy — has demonstrated a strong understanding of both the policy challenges banks face and the need to reevaluate regulations that have made it harder for them to serve their customers, clients and communities,” said the American Bankers Association in a statement. “His efforts have already had a meaningful impact, and we look forward to working with him on a range of issues, including the need for a rational regulatory approach to merger applications, developing a sound and transparent framework for indexing regulatory thresholds and the FDIC’s important role overseeing the deposit insurance program.”

The Independent Community Bankers of America in its statement hit at bank-nonbank regulatory oversight patterns, an emerging theme in the Trump administration as bank regulators look to lower barriers for fintechs and other nonbank and crypto players in the marketplace. 

“ICBA continues to encourage policymakers in Washington to address excessive regulatory burdens on community banks and ensure a level regulatory playing field between banks and nonbank entities to support a secure environment for consumers and the financial system,” the group said. “We look forward to continuing to work closely with Chairman Hill, the Trump administration, and the 119th Congress on these critical issues.” 

Most recently, the FDIC under Hill’s leadership has proposed rules for FDIC-supervised banks to begin to issue payment stablecoins, per requirements in the stablecoin GENIUS Act. 

The FDIC board — currently composed of Chair Hill, Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould and acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Russell Vought — still has two vacancies for a board member and vice chair, seats that are reserved by statute for members outside of the majority party. President Donald Trump has not put forward nominations for those positions and is not expected to.