WASHINGTON — A Senate Banking subcommittee led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is inviting the inspector general of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors to testify at a hearing next week, according to a letter obtained by American Banker.
The hearing, held in the aftermath of three bank failures —
Elizabeth Warren and Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., the chair and ranking member of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Economic Policy, invited Mark Bialek, inspector general of the Fed and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to testify at a hearing on May 10. The Office of the Inspector General for the Fed and CFPB did not respond to a request for comment.
Bialek has not confirmed his appearance in front of the committee.
The hearing is one of a slate of highly anticipated panels coming up in the aftermath of the bank failures.
The former CEOs of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, as well as the former chair of Signature Bank, will appear before the committee on May 16, the Senate Banking Committee said Tuesday night.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg, Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr, acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu, New York State Department of Financial Services Superintendent Adrienne Harris and California Department of Financial Protection Commissioner Clothilde Hewlett will testify before the Senate Banking Committee May 18.
Along with looking at the Fed's role in this year's banking turmoil, Warren and Kennedy said they will discuss proposals that would designate the inspector general as a Senate-confirmed presidential appointee, and that would subject the Fed regional banks to the Freedom of Information Act.
"We have long expressed concerns about insufficient transparency around Fed policies and programs, unresponsiveness to Congressional information requests, and an overall lack of accountability at the Federal Reserve Board and regional Reserve Banks," Warren and Kennedy said in their letter. "The Fed's ongoing inability or unwillingness to meaningfully address these concerns threatens to undermine the public's confidence in the Fed and the credibility of the Fed's policymaking."
Warren and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., introduced bipartisan legislation in March that would require the inspector general to be presidentially-appointed and Senate confirmed. Warren also worked with Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., on a
The failure of Silicon Valley Bank, in particular, highlights the opaqueness of the San Francisco Fed, which oversaw the institution whose failure preceded the other two.
"The recent bank collapses, moreover, bring into stark relief the consequences of the Fed's failures and the need for structural reforms," the lawmakers said.
Bialek, if he appears at the hearing, will also likely answer questions about the inspector general's recent report on the stock trades of certain members on the Fed's rate-setting committee. The report found that the Fed can
