U.S. Financial Regulatory Week Ahead

Written By Francis Kelly

The OCC Gets An Acting Comptroller, The CFPB Is Ordered to Stop Doing Whatever It’s Doing, Congress Starts Moving on Crypto Legislation, And Treasury Gets a New Assistant Secretaries for Financial Markets and Financial Institutions

February 10 - 14, 2025

While President Trump has yet to nominate anyone to any major financial regulatory post other than the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) (Paul Atkins as Chair), he has overseen the installation of a number of acting heads.  The latest is Rodney Hood as the Acting Comptroller of the Currency. 

Hood, who served as Chair of the National Credit Union Administration during President Trump's first term and remained as Vice Chair during most of the Biden Administration, has a strong pedigree in banking, having held senior positions at Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and J.P. Morgan Chase. 

What is interesting is that this is only an acting role.  Hood reportedly does not want to be made full-time and will only serve until President Trump selects someone else.  Hood joins the "Acting Club" with Caroline Pham as the Acting Chair of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, Travis Hill as Acting Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Mark Uyeda as Acting Chair of the SEC (until Atkins is confirmed), and Russel Voight (the newly confirmed Director of the Office of Management and Budget) as the Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

The CFPB is the hot topic of the week here in Washington, especially since Voight took over the Acting role from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.  Voight has ordered agency employees not to come into work or perform any work tasks – including moving on any ongoing litigation.  Moreover, Voight has instructed the Federal Reserve – which funds the CFPB out of its budget – not to send any more money as it is not "reasonably necessary to carry out its duties." What is clear is the Trump Administration wants to do away with the CFPB – to the loud cheering of virtually every financial institution regulated by the agency – and, if they cannot outright shut it down, then starve it to death financially.

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents CFPB employees, has sued Voight, asking a judge to halt his orders and block Elon Musk's DOGE staffers from accessing internal CFPB communications systems.  If you go to the CFPB's website, you get the always ominous "404: Page Not Found" message (see screenshot below).

Over at Treasury this past week,  there were two particularly important nominations for the financial services sector.  Jason Trennert, the founder and Chair of Strategas Research Partners, was nominated to the role of Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets, and Luke Pettit, an aide to Senator Hagerty and previously at Bridgewater Associates and, before that, the Federal Reserve, was nominated to be Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee continue rapidly accelerating their legislative strategies for the year.  House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) and his top deputy on cryptocurrency policy unveiled a draft bill last week to create a stablecoins regulatory structure.  The legislation closely mirrors legislation offered in the Senate by Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and co-sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC) and a number of other members.

There is not much happening at the regulatory agencies this coming week.  The big events are Federal Reserve Board Chair Jay Powell's semi-annual testimony before Congress on the State of the Economy and Governor Christopher Waller's interesting and timely speech in San Francisco on Stablecoins.

Below is what else we are watching in the Washington financial regulatory world this coming week:

U.S. Congressional Hearings

U.S. Senate

  • Tuesday, February 11, 10:00 a.m. – The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee holds a hearing on "The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress."  Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell will testify.

 

House of Representatives

  • Tuesday, February 11, 10:00 a.m. – The House Agriculture Committee holds a hearing entitled “Examining the Economic Crisis in Farm Country.”

  • Tuesday, February 11, 10:00 a.m. – The House Judiciary Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust Subcommittee holds a hearing on "Reining in the Administrative State: Regulatory and Administrative Law Reform."

     

  • Tuesday, February 11, 2:30 p.m. – The House Financial Services Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence Subcommittee holds a hearing on "A Golden Age of Digital Assets: Charting a Path Forward."

     

  • Wednesday, February 12, 10:00 a.m. – The House Financial Services Committee holds a hearing on "The Federal Reserve's Semi-Annual Monetary Policy Report."  Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell will testify.

     

  • Wednesday, February 12, 10:00 a.m. – The House Small Business Committee holds a hearing on "Driving Economic Growth: SBA Lending Programs and the Vital Role of Community Banks."

 

 

Federal Department & Regulatory Agency Meetings & Events

Federal Reserve Board and Federal Reserve Banks

  • Tuesday, February 11, 3:30 p.m. – Federal Reserve Board Governor Michelle W. Bowman gives a speech on Bank Regulation at the 2025 Iowa Bankers Association Bank Management and Policy Conference.

  • Wednesday, February 12, 5:05 p.m. – Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher J. Waller gives a speech on stablecoins at the A Very Stable Conference: Stablecoin Infrastructure for Real World Applications, San Francisco, California.

 

U.S. Treasury Department

  • There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

 

Department of Commerce

  • There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

 

Department of Housing and Urban Development

  • There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

 

Securities and Exchange Commission

  • Thursday, February 13, 2:00 p.m. – The SEC will hold a Closed Meeting.

 

Commodities Futures Trading Commission

  • There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

 

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

  • There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

 

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

  • There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

 

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

  • Tuesday, February 11, 1:00 p.m. – Consumer Financial Protection Bureau holds a virtual meeting of the Consumer Advisory Board to discuss broad policy matters related to the Bureau's Unified Regulatory Agenda and general scope of authority (NOTE: This meeting is likely to be cancelled).

  • Wednesday, February 12, 1:00 p.m. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau holds a virtual meeting of the Combined Community Bank Advisory Council and Credit Union Advisory Council to discuss broad policy matters related to the Bureau's Unified Regulatory Agenda and general scope of authority (NOTE: This meeting is likely to be canceled).

 

National Credit Union Administration

  • There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

 

FINRA

  • There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

 

Federal Housing Finance Agency

  • There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

 

Federal Trade Commission & Department of Justice Antitrust Division

  • There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

 

Farm Credit Administration

  • Thursday, February 13, 10:00 a.m. – The FCA Board of Directors holds a meeting to consider a regulatory burden final notice.

 

Farm Credit Insurance Corporation

  • Wednesday, February 12, 10:00 a.m. – the FCSIC Board of Director will hold a meeting.  The agenda includes review and setting of insurance premium accrual rates (Open); Policy statement concerning contracting (Open); Report on biennial liquidity assistance exercise (Closed); Annual report on Contracts (Closed); and Annual report on whistleblower activity (Closed)

 

Small Business Administration

  • There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

 

International Monetary Fund & World Bank

  • There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

 

North American Securities Administrators Association

  • There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

 

 

Trade Associations & Think Tank Events

Trade Associations

  • Tuesday, February 11, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. – The Institute for International Bankers holds its 2025 U.S. Regulatory & Compliance Orientation Conference in New York.

 

Think Tanks and Other Events

Francis Kelly
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