On the recordJuly 26, 2023
Mr. President, earlier this year, the public confidence in the banking system was shaken by a series of significant bank failures. To put it simply, these banks failed to account for interest rate increases while leaning on a deposit base that was almost entirely uninsured. That is a textbook case of mismanagement. It is critical that faith be restored in our Nation's banks and their regulators. But before policymakers clamor to write stricter banking regulations, an independent review board should be appointed to thoroughly probe the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and the response of the Federal Reserve Bank. Many questions still remain unanswered. Silicon Valley Bank was quickly deemed systemically important because of its size, but the ensuing failure of a larger bank was not. The sale was dragged out for weeks out of fear that certain banks would grow too large, only for the largest bank in the country to turn around and purchase the next bank failure. In my opinion, all parties involved had a role in this failure: bank executives, examiners, and regulators. The bank failed to both accurately leverage their position and react to rising interest rates. Examiners failed to require changes in either the bank's policy or subsequent actions. Regulators failed by arbitrarily guaranteeing all funds against loss, creating an unlimited market insecurity by forcing taxpayers and customers to now question the safety of their deposits.…
Source
govinfo.gov




