“The unrestricted ability to remove directors and executives on a whim is not a power any government agency or official should have in our country.”
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) authored an op-ed in American Banker outlining his concerns with the Senate Banking Committee’s legislative proposal to empower federal financial regulators in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank’s failure. Senator Tuberville argues that, instead of giving Joe Biden’s regulators more authority, Congress should be focused on ensuring regulators use their existing powers to promote safety and soundness in the financial sector. Senator Tuberville’s key concern with the legislation is a provision that would allow federal financial regulators to fire directors and executives of any bank – including financially healthy community banks – that regulators deem are failing to appropriately manage risk. This provision opens the door to abuse by regulators seeking force banks to implement climate and ESG risk controls.
Excerpts from the op-ed can be found below. The op-ed can be read in its entirety on American Banker.
Before We Give Bank Regulators More Power, Congress Needs to Consider the Consequences
U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville
American Banker
July 21, 2023
“SVB’s collapse was not the result of too little regulation. It was the result of a failure of supervision.”
“If the present version of the RECOUP Act became law, Joe Biden’s appointees could effectively take over any bank in America and push out its directors and executives who refuse to implement their preferred “climate risk” standards.”
“The Biden Administration has been perfectly open about its goal of redirecting trillions of dollars in investments toward ESG-friendly priorities and away from unfashionable industries like fossil fuels. The current draft of the RECOUP Act would empower Joe Biden’s regulators—the regulators partially responsible for the largest bank failure since the Great Recession— in a way that would make Operation Choke Point look like child’s play.”
“Instead of giving bank regulators even more authority, we just need to ensure they do their jobs. And instead of letting them inject ESG and left-wing politics and preferences into the financial world, we need them to get back to the basics of their Congressional mandate of ensuring safety and soundness.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, and HELP Committees.
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