The Senate Banking Committee will hold separate hearings next week for Jerome Powell on his nomination to a second term as Federal Reserve chair and for Lael Brainard’s elevation to vice chair.
Powell will appear by himself before the committee on Jan. 11 at 10 a.m. in Washington, the committee said in a notice on its website Tuesday. Brainard, currently a Fed governor, will testify two days later alongside Sandra Thompson, the White House nominee to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
President Biden has three more seats to fill on the board, including a new vice chair for supervision. Those picks, along with Powell and Brainard’s four-year terms for their slots, are all subject to approval by the full Senate.
Bloomberg News reported Monday that the White House is likely to nominate the economist Philip Jefferson for a seat on the Fed’s Board of Governors, according to people familiar with the matter, an appointment that would make him just the fourth Black man to hold the position in the central bank’s more than 100-year history.
The North Carolina-based bank rolled out a multiyear program to provide loans, investments and philanthropic support to communities in the western part of the state.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra said the FICO credit-scoring model has drawbacks in price, predictiveness and market competition, and stakeholders should develop a more open-sourced model that uses artificial intelligence.
Analysts say lenders' shares could rally on deregulation, lighter tax burdens and a resurgence of M&A. Declining interest rates and lower loan losses could further bolster bottom lines and attract investor interest.