Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee are asking Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly for a slew of internal records related to the failure of Silicon Valley Bank.
(Bloomberg) — Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee are asking Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly for a slew of internal records related to the failure of Silicon Valley Bank.
“It is apparent that the Federal Reserve supervisors and examiners neglected to intervene in a meaningful, appropriate way to rectify the bank’s deficiencies, ensure safe and sound operations, and prevent its ultimate failure,” the lawmakers wrote Thursday in a letter led by Senator Tim Scott, the committee’s top Republican, and signed by all of the panel’s GOP members.
The letter to Powell and Daly lists 12 separate information requests, including examination reports on SVB, as well as the calendars of bank examiners, Daly and members of the Fed board in Washington. The lawmakers have requested a response no later than April 6.
SVB failed on March 10 after a run on its deposits, prompting aggressive action by US regulators to stop any contagion. The Fed opened an emergency lending facility to support banks experiencing deposit outflows, while the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took SVB into receivership and protected all of its depositors.
Democrats are also seeking answers. Senator Elizabeth Warren has criticized Powell and Randal Quarles, the Fed’s former vice chair for supervision, for setting the stage for the bank’s failure. House Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry and ranking Democrat Maxine Waters have called for a Government Accountability Office investigation.
Lawmakers have struggled in recent years to obtain information from the Fed and its regional banks, prompting Warren and former Republican Senator Patrick Toomey to introduce bipartisan legislation in 2022 that would make them subject to congressional oversight requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
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