CBA On Impending Resignation Of FDIC Chairman: Hold On New Rules Until Member of Minority Party is Seated

Consumer Bankers Association President and CEO Richard Hunt today issued the following statement after the Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Jelena McWilliams, announced her intent to resign effective February 4, 2022:

“As the head of the FDIC, Chairman McWilliams has served her nation and the banking industry with honor and distinction. Throughout this pandemic, she has worked tirelessly to ensure America’s leading banks were equipped to lift up millions of hardworking families and small businesses struggling to make ends meet. Her story – from arriving as an immigrant in the United States just three decades ago to becoming Chairman of one of our nation’s leading banking regulators – truly embodies the American dream and should inspire us all. As a former Capitol Hill colleague, Chairman McWilliams has certainly inspired me, and CBA is grateful to her for her years of service.

“Following Chairman McWilliams departure, the agency – whose board members have worked to balance the will of the majority and minority for nearly a century – will be without any ideological balance for the first time in recent memory. To preserve confidence in the FDIC, the Board of Directors should not pass any new rules or regulations until a replacement Board member representing the minority party is seated. Otherwise, it will be operating without any checks and balances, akin to Congress legislating with input only from the party in power. Failure to do so threatens not only the strength and resiliency of our banking system, but the hundreds of millions of families who depend on it.”

Earlier this month, CBA’s Richard Hunt wrote an op-ed in The Hill reflecting on the importance of maintaining transparency and confidence at the FDIC, noting “The implications of potentially unstable leadership at the FDIC and other prudential regulators are especially significant for an industry affecting nearly every American. … a lack of transparency — and the distrust and instability that stem from it — would not only be harmful to America’s banking system. It would be harmful to the hundreds of millions of families who depend on it.” To read the full op-ed, click HERE.

Earlier this year, Chairman McWilliams spoke at CBA’s Washington Forum. To read an overview of her remarks, including her views on the strength of America’s well-regulated banking system, especially during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the American people needed support most, click HERE.