FDIC nominee Goldsmith Romero: Basel reproposal 'on the table'

Ting Shen/Bloomberg

WASHINGTON — Christy Goldsmith Romero, President Joe Biden's latest pick to lead the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., dropped details on how she would handle some of the agency's most contentious rulemakings during a hearing in front of the Senate Banking Committee to consider her nomination.

Biden tapped Goldsmith Romero last month to chair the FDIC in the wake of the agency's workplace misbehavior scandals. Current FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg, who has faced concerns over his temperament and ability to lead the agency through necessary reforms, has said he will resign his post once the Senate confirms a successor.

Goldsmith Romero's nomination's biggest hurdle remains the legislative calendar. There are few legislative days left, and while no Democratic senators hinted at breaking ranks and opposing her nomination, Republicans could still make the confirmation process drag. 

Critics spotlighted what they call Goldsmith Romero's relative inexperience in bank regulation. Although Goldsmith Romero, who is currently a commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, oversaw banks during her time at the Troubled Asset Relief Program, several Republicans said that she lacks bank supervisory experience at an actual prudential regulator.  

"The next chair needs to be prepared to lead," said Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the panel's ranking member. "Correcting the culture at the FDIC is so important, and makes it challenging to have on-the-job training."

Goldsmith Romero previously worked as the special inspector general of TARP in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. She touted her experience there, and what she described as its similarity to a prudential bank regulator. 

Some Republican lawmakers pressed Goldsmith Romero on her stance on a reproposal of the Basel III endgame rule. The rule, which would raise capital standards for some of the largest banks, has been fiercely opposed by bank trade groups and other lobbyists in Washington. 

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said during two days of congressional testimony this week that he would favor a reproposal of the rules, which banks complain go too far and stray from the original international standard that U.S. regulators were trying to meet. 

Powell hinted at divisions between the Fed and the FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency over whether the proposal would be withdrawn and resubmitted, rather than simply finalized with changes. He, however, declined to specify on where the agencies disagreed. 

"I don't want to say that we're at odds," Powell said on Wednesday at the House Financial Services Committee. "I just want to say we're working through this issue together."

In response to a question from Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., Goldsmith Romero signaled openness to the idea of reproposing Basel. "I think a reproposal is always on the table," she said. 

She declined to commit to reproposing the rule, however. Goldsmith Romero said that because she does not know whether the changes the agencies are talking about meet the "broad and material" threshold that would necessitate restarting the process, she can't say whether that is the appropriate course of action. 

"I'm just not privy to the changes that are being made," she said. "I'm looking to make sure that the regulation is long-lasting." 

Goldsmith Romero also declined to commit to recusing herself from the process in lieu of FDIC Vice Chairman Travis Hill, despite Rounds' attempts to elicit such a promise. 

"Your nomination is up right now, and they're in the middle of making this decision right now," he said. "So you're going to be put in a really tough position here."