RegStream

PRESS RELEASE | JANUARY 21, 2025

Statement from Acting Chairman Travis Hill

WASHINGTON – On January 20, 2025, Travis Hill became Acting Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).  Acting Chairman Hill issued the following statement:

“It is my honor and privilege to serve as Acting Chairman of the FDIC.  While the FDIC faces a broad range of issues, and as always will fulfill our mandate to promote a safe, sound, and resilient banking system, below is a list of matters I expect the FDIC to focus on in the coming weeks and months.”

Conduct a wholesale review of regulations, guidance, and manuals to ensure our rules and approach promote a vibrant, growing economy.

Adopt a more open-minded approach to innovation and technology adoption, including (1) a more transparent approach to fintech partnerships and to digital assets and tokenization, and (2) engagement to address growing technology costs for community banks.

Improve the bank merger approval process and replace the 2024 Statement of Policy to ensure that merger transactions that satisfy the Bank Merger Act are approved in a timely way.

Withdraw problematic proposals from the past three years, such as proposals on brokered deposits and corporate governance.

Improve the supervisory process to focus more on core financial risks and less on process, and reevaluate the supervisory appeals process.

Enhance our readiness and preparedness for resolving large financial institutions, incorporating lessons from the far-too-costly failures of 2023, including the need to be much more proactive and nimble and to improve the bidding process.

Pursue adjustments to our capital and liquidity rules to appropriately balance driving economic growth with ensuring safety and soundness and resilience to shocks.

Encourage more de novo activity so there is a healthy pipeline of new entrants in the banking sector.

Work to ensure law-abiding customers have, and do not lose, access to bank accounts and banking services.

Modernize implementation of the Bank Secrecy Act.

Study deposit behavior to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the relative stability of different types of deposits and depositors.

Reevaluate our disclosure practices, and expand transparency in areas that do not impact safety and soundness or financial stability.

Ensure the FDIC remains within our statutory mandates, and stops coloring outside the lines.

Pursue internal efficiencies to ensure we are serving as responsible stewards of the Deposit Insurance Fund.

Reestablish a strong workforce culture, where misconduct is not tolerated and those who engage in misconduct are held accountable.

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