U.S. Reps. French Hill (R-AR), Andy Barr (R-KY), and Bryan Steil (R-WI) called on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to help them better understand the agency’s regulatory and supervisory work related to the digital asset activities of regulated financial institutions.
In a Feb. 20 letter sent to FDIC Acting Chairman Travis Hill, the members wrote that they hope to work together with the FDIC to provide clarity regarding the issue, and also asked Hill to consider their five recommendations to:
- Require all banking supervisory guidance to be written and publicly disclosed with limited redactions to end informal verbal-only directives.
- Respect Bank Secrecy Act requirements and explore ways for financial institutions to provide a clear explanation to customers when closing their account to ensure accountability.
- Prohibit the use of reputational risk as a supervisory factor and clarify and reform the use of “management” from the CAMELS rating system assessment to prevent abuse or discrimination.
- Subject all supervisory guidance to an external, periodic review that weighs regulatory benefits against impacts on law-abiding Americans’ banking access.
- Ensure all supervisory guidance and rules apply equally to all institutions, barring preferential or punitive case-by-case treatment.
“While we understand that there is still a need for congressional action to help clarify regulations surrounding digital assets, we hope that you will look at these recommendations and implement them appropriately,” wrote the lawmakers. “We also understand that some of these recommendations may require an act of Congress for you to utilize them. In that case, please let us know which recommendations you believe require an act of Congress to help better inform our legislative efforts.”
Rep. Hill is chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee; Rep. Barr is chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions; and Rep. Steil is chairman of the committee’s Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence.
The lawmakers also requested that Hill provide information regarding the FDIC’s next steps and which actions the FDIC can take now without action by Congress.