President Joe Biden is urging banking regulators to reinstate rules that were rolled back during the Trump administration.
Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., on March 10. Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images file
March 30, 2023, 7:27 PM UTCThe White House is urging independent financial regulators to institute a number of banking rule changes in the wake of two recent bank collapses, including reinstating regulations that were rolled back during the Trump administration.
President Joe Biden "believes that the weakening of common-sense bank safeguards and supervision during the Trump administration for large regional banks should be reversed in order to strengthen the banking system and protect American jobs and small businesses," the White House said in a statement.
The reforms being proposed Thursday wouldn't require congressional action and "would strengthen the resiliency" of a banking system that was rocked this month by the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, a White House official told reporters at a briefing about the changes.
"We think the banking system has stabilized greatly in the past few weeks," the official said. "This set of actions is really about making sure we're protecting the resilience of the banking system going forward."
Among the actions the White House is urging regulators to take is reinstating rules on liquidity requirements and stress testing for banks with assets of $100 billion to $250 billion. It also calls for annual supervisory capital stress tests and a requirement that midsize banks submit plans describing how they could be wound down without stress to the rest of the banking system.
Biden also wants "federal banking agencies to take steps to once again ensure strong oversight and supervision that includes strengthening supervisory tools, including stress testing, to make sure that banks can withstand high interest rates and other stresses," the official said.
The White House said in a statement, "Each of these items can be accomplished under existing law, and they build upon regulatory reforms already on this administration’s agenda."
The White House official stressed that the administration is still discussing other reforms with lawmakers, including legislation that would make it easier for the government to rescind bonuses and stock sale gains collected by executives whose actions cause bank failures.
He has also asked Congress to expand the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s ability to fine executives.
Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.
