WASHINGTON — Lawmakers from both parties pressed U.S. regulators to continue efforts to shrink or lessen the risk big banks pose to the financial system, signaling support for recent moves to impose new constraints on Wall Street.
The support for a big-bank regulatory crackdown was underscored at a Senate Banking Committee hearing Tuesday as lawmakers drew a distinction between large banks and other financial firms. Several senators pushed regulators to ease burdens on insurance companies and small and midsize banks while backing additional regulatory action to ensure the biggest banks aren’t “too big to fail.”
Unless regulators “are willing to take the steps necessary to make sure that these organizations are not too complex to be resolved through bankruptcy, then all is for naught,” said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.
Corker was referring to the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s recent rejection of big banks’ plans to avoid a taxpayer bailout if they run into financial trouble.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, praised Fed Gov. Daniel Tarullo Tuesday for promising to raise capital requirements above international levels for the very largest U.S. banks.
“There’s a great deal of support in this committee and, I think, throughout the House and Senate on stronger capital standards like that,” Brown said.
