FRB, FDIC, OCC And NCUA Testify At Congressional Oversight Hearings

On December 2, 2025 the House Financial Services Committee held an oversight hearing with leaders of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC"), Federal Reserve Board ("FRB"), the National Credit Union Administration ("NCUA") and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC").

Testimony from the four leaders were substantially similar before both of the committees. The four witnesses were Michelle Bowman, Vice Chair for Supervision, FRB; Travis Hill, Acting Chairman, FDIC; Kyle Hauptman, Chairman, NCUA; and Jonathan Gould, Comptroller of the Currency, OCC.

The four prudential leaders reported that their respective depository institutions are generally sound. Vice Chair Bowman pointed to the FRB'sSupervision and Regulation Reportissued earlier in the week, and her testimony reflected much of what was in the report, noting a current focus on "addressing financial risks over process and documentation shortcomings... [and ] effectively and efficiently tailoring the supervisory approach to each bank based on its size, complexity, business model, and risk profile." Vice Chair Bowman noted the risks of nonbank financial institutions, noting in her prepared testimony that "nonbank financial institutions continue to increase their share of the total lending market, providing strong competition to regulated banks without facing the same capital, liquidity, and other prudential standards."

Much of the discussion, during the hearing with the prudential regulatory leaders focused on efforts that the agencies have completed with regard to capital adequacy regulations, and forthcoming Basel III Endgame re-proposal. The three banking agency leaders noted the final rule adjusting the enhanced supplementary leverage ratio ("eSLR") to make the eSLR a backstop rather than a binding constraint. The pending interagency proposal to lower the community bank leverage ratio ("CBLR") was also discussed regarding capital adequacy generally. With regard to the Basel III Endgame re-proposal, the three banking agency representatives stated the hope is to release that proposal early in 2026. While some members of the committee asked about calibration of a Basel III re-proposal and whether it would be capital neutral, Vice Chair Bowman noted that "[m]y approach is to address the calibration of the new framework from the bottom up, rather than reverse engineer changes to achieve pre-determined or preconceived approaches to capital requirements."

In addition to capital requirements, another area of discussion during the hearing was digital assets, and the Agencies' progress with stablecoin regulations called for in the GENIUS Act. Acting FDIC Chair Hill noting that proposed regs on applications for approval to be a stablecoin issuer should come soon. Vice Chair Bowman also mentioned the agencies are working together "to develop capital, liquidity, and diversification regulations for stablecoin issuers."

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