U.S. Financial Regulatory Week Ahead
The Regulatory Confirmation Process Begins, the End of OCC/FDIC Merger Talk, Barr’s Regulatory Swan Song Speech DOGE Continues Its Review As Federal Workers Have to Respond to Musk Email
February 24 - 28, 2025
The new class of federal regulatory nominees begins the confirmation process this week as Jonathan McKernan, the nominee to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and Bill Pulte, the nominee to run the Federal Housing Finance Agency, stand before the Senate Banking Committee. It is not clear yet when SEC Chair nominee Paul Atkins, CFTC Chair nominee Brian Quintenz, or Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) nominee Jonathan Gould will get his confirmation hearing, but rumor is that they will take place in the coming three weeks.
Also, on Capitol Hill this week, there are several hearings of note happening. The House Financial Services Committee will be holding two hearings, one entitled “The Future of American Capital: Strengthening Public and Private Markets by Increasing Investor Access and Facilitating Capital Formation.” The second hearing will take a broad review of finance and China.
Among regulators, Federal Reserve Board Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr will be giving his final speech as Vice Chair. He will be at the Yale School of Management and speaking on financial stability.
Meanwhile, after several months of speculation about a possible effort to merge the OCC and the FDIC was put to rest this past week. The OCC this past week denied plans to put the two agencies together (something the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 had urged). The response was issued after reports of the OCC planning to receive transferred or fired FDIC workers coming over the agency.
Meanwhile, the Elon Musk DOGE effort continues apace with regulators as well as larger departments (particularly the Department of Defense) coming under intensified scrutiny (there were reports late last week that Defense could see tens of thousands of civilian employees let go). While all this is going on, an email was sent to all federal employees from DOGE demanding federal workers describe by Monday what they do and justify their work. A number of federal agencies, in response to the email, told workers to ignore the email, leaving many workers confused as to what would happen if they indeed ignored the email.
Below is what else we are watching in the Washington financial regulatory world this coming week:
U.S. Congressional Hearings
U.S. Senate
· Wednesday, February 26, 2:30 p.m. – The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing entitled “Exploring Bipartisan Legislative Frameworks for Digital Assets.”
· Wednesday, February 26, 10:30 a.m. – The Senate Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing entitled “Perspectives from the Field: Farmer and Rancher Views on the Agricultural Economy, Part 2”
· Thursday, February 27, 10:00 a.m. – The Senate Banking Committee will hold confirmation hearings for Stephen Miran to be Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, Jeffrey Kessler to be Undersecretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, and Jonathan McKernan to be Director of the Bureau of Consumer and Financial Protection.
House of Representatives
· Tuesday, February 25, 10:00 a.m. – The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing entitled “Examining Policies to Counter China.” You can read the background Committee memo to members HERE. The committee will also consider seventeen separate bills focused on issues ranging from money laundering to SEC regulations for te World Bank to the African Development Fund.
· Tuesday, February 25, 10:00 a.m. – The Trade Subcommittee of the House Ways & Means Committee will hold a hearing entitled “American Trade Enforcement Priorities”
· Wednesday, February 26, 10:00 a.m. – The Capital Markets Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing entitled “The Future of American Capital: Strengthening Public and Private Markets by Increasing Investor Access and Facilitating Capital Formation.”
Federal Department & Regulatory Agency Meetings & Events
Federal Reserve Board and Federal Reserve Banks
· Tuesday, February 25, 11:45 a.m. – Federal Reserve Board Vice Chair for Supervision Michael S. Barr will give a speech on Financial Stability followed by Q&A at the Yale School of Management in New Haven, Connecticut.
· Thursday, February 27, 11:45 a.m. – Federal Reserve Board Governor Michelle W. Bowman will give a speech on community banking at the Fort Hays State University Robbins Banking Institute Lecture Series, Hays, Kansas.
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
· Monday, February 24, 8:45 a.m. – The Florida Bar’s Federal Securities Institute and M&A Conference will be held in Tampa, Florida. Acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda will speak.
· Tuesday, February 25, 10:00 a.m. – The SEC’s Small Business and Capital Formation Advisory Committee will meet. They will hear from two speakers – Ashok Kamal, Executive Director, NuFund Venture Group, and Sara Zulkosky, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Recast Capital, on “Exploring Ways to Support and Facilitate Capital Formation for Emerging Fund Managers.” The Committee will hold a second session entitled “Understanding the Challenges Faced by Small Public Companies Not Listed on a National Securities Exchange.”
· Wednesday, February 26, 10:00 a.m. – The SEC will hold an Open Meeting to consider the “Final Rule Extending Compliance Dates and Order Granting Temporary Exemptive Relief for Standards for Covered Clearing Agencies for U.S. Treasury Securities and Application of the Broker-Dealer Customer Protection Rule with Respect to U.S. Treasury Securities.”
· Thursday, February 27, 2:00 p.m. – The SEC will hold a Closed Meeting.
Commodities Futures Trading Commission
· Tuesday, February 25, 11:40 a.m. (Germany) – CFTC Acting Chair Caroline D. Pham will participate in a fireside chat at the Sixth Joint Conference on CCP Risk Management 2025 in Frankfurt, Germany.
· Wednesday, February 26, 10:20 a.m. (Germany) – Acting Chairman Caroline D. Pham will be featured on a fireside chat titled, “Transatlantic Trends – The U.S. Election and Its Impact on Europe” at the Derivatives Forum Frankfurt 2025.
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
· There are no significant events scheduled at this time.
National Credit Union Administration
· Thursday, February 27, 10:00 a.m. – The National Credit Union Administration will hold a board meeting. The agenda includes Board Briefing, Share Insurance Fund Quarterly Report and the NCUA Board Vice Chairman Designation.
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
· There are no significant events scheduled at this time.
Farm Credit Insurance Corporation
· There are no significant events scheduled at this time.
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
· Monday – Wednesday, February 24 -26 -- The American Bankers Association holds its Wealth Management and Trust Conference in San Diego, California.
Think Tanks and Other Events
· Tuesday, February 25, 7:15 a.m. – The Economic Club of Washington, D.C. holds a discussion with Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan on "the current state of the economy, markets, the health of the U.S. consumer, and the global economic outlook for 2025."
· Tuesday & Wednesday, February 25 & 16 – The American Conference Institute, the Canadian Institute, and C5 hold a forum on "Global Export Controls” in Arlington, Virginia. John Sonderman, director of the Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security's Office of Export Enforcement and Paul Ahern, chief counselor for enforcement at the Treasury Department's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, will be keynote speakers.
· Wednesday, February 26, 9:00 a.m. – The Peterson Institute for International Economics will hold a virtual event entitled “The Trump Administration’s policies and global financial risk.”
Thursday, February 27, 11:00 a.m. – The Bipartisan Policy Institute is holding a hybrid event entitled “Searching for Solutions: Property Insurance and Housing Affordability.”