A top Federal Reserve official said Monday that the central bank should go beyond the pending bipartisan Senate bill in providing regulatory relief for regional banks.
“Just as there is a strong public interest in the safety and soundness of the financial system, there is a strong public interest in the efficiency of the financial system,” Fed vice chairman for supervision Randal Quarles said in remarks prepared for congressional testimony Tuesday, making the case for revisiting the post-crisis regulations that apply to banks.
“There are further measures we can take to match the content of our regulation to the character and risk of the institutions being regulated,” he said.
As one example, he suggested that the Fed could revisit a rule that requires banks to maintain enough liquid assets that they could survive for a month just on the proceeds from selling them. He also proposed letting banks file “living wills” spelling out how they would go bankrupt without causing a crisis every two years rather than annually.
Those changes would not apply to megabanks such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, but rather to the regional banks that are the focus of the bipartisan Senate-passed regulatory relief bill. Quarles said he supports the legislation, which liberal critics argue would represent a step toward greater risk of financial crisis.
Quarles said that the financial system is stronger and safer thanks to the post-crisis rules, but that “inevitably” the vast array of new regulations could be improved.
