Washington, June 7 (IANS) Senior US banking regulators defended efforts to ease some post-crisis regulations and implement new rules for stablecoins during a contentious congressional hearing, while Democratic lawmakers warned that the changes could weaken safeguards designed to prevent future financial crises.
The debate unfolded before the House Financial Services Committee this week as senior officials from the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) outlined their priorities for the banking sector.
Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman told lawmakers that the US banking system remained “sound and resilient”, adding that “Bank lending to households and businesses also continues to grow.” She said regulators had made “substantial progress” in modernising the regulatory and supervisory framework while maintaining safety and soundness.
Committee Chairman French Hill said the Trump administration was returning regulators to their “core regulatory and supervisory mission of promoting safety and soundness in the financial system”. He argued that reforms under way would encourage lending, support community banks and foster innovation while preserving financial stability.
A central theme of the hearing was implementation of the GENIUS Act, the recently enacted law establishing a federal framework for payment stablecoins.
Bowman said the Federal Reserve was developing regulations required under the legislation. FDIC Chairman Travis Hill described implementation of the law as a “top priority”, while OCC Comptroller Jonathan Gould said his agency was working through hundreds of public comments on proposed rules.
The push reflects a broader effort by Washington to bring parts of the fast-growing digital asset industry within the regulated financial system.
Gould said the OCC was seeking to facilitate innovation while maintaining oversight and consumer protections. “The OCC is open for business again,” he said, pointing to a rise in applications for new bank charters and efforts to encourage competition within the banking sector.
NCUA Chairman Kyle Hauptman argued that stablecoins could make payments “faster, cheaper, and more inclusive” and help reinforce the global role of the US dollar. He noted that more than 80 per cent of existing dollar-backed stablecoin usage occurs outside the United States and said the technology could strengthen demand for dollar-denominated assets globally.
Regulators also defended proposed revisions to the Basel III capital framework, which would alter how banks calculate and hold capital against potential losses. Bowman said the proposals were intended to better align capital requirements with actual risks while supporting lending activity. Several Republican lawmakers argued that previous proposals would have unnecessarily increased costs for borrowers and constrained credit availability.
Democrats offered a sharply different assessment.
Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters accused the administration of pursuing “the most deregulatory campaign we’ve ever seen” and warned that regulators were weakening capital requirements, easing scrutiny of large financial institutions and loosening guardrails for crypto-related activities.
Lawmakers also pressed regulators on artificial intelligence, cyber-security risks and the lessons from the 2023 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Bowman confirmed that an independent review of supervisory failures linked to the bank’s collapse was under way and acknowledged that some former officials had declined to participate in interviews connected to the review.
–IANS
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