In a section specifically about oil and gas, Quaadman also urges senators to ask Raskin whether it is the Fed’s role “to direct capital away from certain industries that are politically disfavored or direct capital towards industries that are politically favored.” The not-so-subtle suggestion is that Raskin might be politically motivated to crack down on the fossil fuel industry. BlackRock lobbied aggressively for this regulatory approach during the Obama administration, so as to avoid being designated a systemically important financial institution under Dodd-Frank’s purview. “Can bank mergers,” Quaadman asked, “benefit competition and consumers, and if so, how? Are there any examples of past bank mergers that promoted competition?” He also questioned whether Raskin is committed to “ activities-based regulation,” which exempts gargantuan asset managers from being subject to the same rules as banks. Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, sent an open letter to Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democrat, and Republican ranking member Pat Toomey, consisting of a list of questions the chamber would like posed in the hearing. Tom Quaadman, executive vice president of the U.S. Claudia Sahm, a former Federal Reserve economist and now director of macroeconomic research for the Jain Family Institute, argues that the post is “the most consequential of the Biden nominees” and is likely to “shape the path of regulatory, financial stability, and payments policy at the Fed for decades to come.” The fact that Raskin seems to agree with the general premise of regulating banks and wants to take into account the profound changes the climate crisis will bring about has predictably set off alarm bells for the financial and fossil fuel sectors and the politicians they bankroll. Per that bill, Raskin would be charged with the “supervision and regulation of depository institution holding companies and other financial firms supervised by the Board”-namely banks. It was created by the Dodd-Frank bill in 2010, in the aftermath of the Great Recession, as a corrective to lax regulation over the banking sector. The position of v ice chair for supervision is still somewhat loosely defined. Her confirmation hearing could serve as a useful temperature check on how Republicans plan to spin their protection of corporate profits over the reality of the climate crisis. Controversially, she also thinks the trillions of dollars’ worth of climate destruction likely to face the United States this century is something the world’s most powerful bank should consider in its decisions. A former member of the board and former deputy treasury secretary, she is well credentialed for the job. On Thursday, Sarah Bloom Raskin will go before the Senate Banking Committee for her confirmation hearing to become the vice chair for supervision of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
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