Earlier this month, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) questioned nominees on FDIC oversight during a Senate Banking Committee hearing.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you, Mr. Ito, I would express the opinion
00:04that Joy probably made the right choice
00:06and we will not keep you long so you can catch up.
00:09I'm glad to report that they made it safely
00:11to their destination.
00:13I'm not suggesting what my colleagues ask about,
00:16but you may not get the most questions on this panel.
00:19But nonetheless, you should stay here for the entire panel.
00:22But then again, I don't know where you're going
00:26on your vacation, so thank you all.
00:30I'll start with you, Ms. Goldsmith-Romero.
00:31FDIC suffered from significant
00:33longstanding workplace culture issues.
00:36It's been described as misogynistic, patriarchal,
00:39insular, outdated, good old boys club.
00:42Significant change is necessary because FDIC employees
00:46deserve a workplace free from discrimination
00:48and abuse and harassment.
00:50How do you go about addressing these longstanding issues
00:53that appear to be deeply ingrained through FDIC chairs
00:58of both parties for far too many years
01:00did seem to be ingrained in the agency's culture?
01:04Thank you for the question, Senator.
01:05I mean, when I read the report,
01:07it reads like a bygone error,
01:09particularly for women and minorities
01:12and members of the LGBTQ plus community.
01:15So I'll learn more if confirmed and I can get in there,
01:19but let me give you my top line thoughts.
01:22The first is to modernize the federal workplace
01:26to one that has the best practices
01:27that you would expect to see in federal workplaces,
01:30that invests in staff morale and values
01:32and supports employees.
01:35The second is to herald the employees and managers
01:37that have been doing the right thing.
01:39Third, I'd send a clear message that harassment
01:42and discrimination and retaliation will not be tolerated.
01:45So that includes investigations
01:47and holding people accountable.
01:49And I can say that the conduct in the report
01:52would warrant multiple removals.
01:56Additionally, we need to put in place
01:58what is the normal standard federal EEO process
02:03for complaints and then encourage people to use it
02:05rather than have them live in fear.
02:07I would change the litigation adverse culture
02:11so that problems could be addressed right away
02:14rather than moved around or kicked the can down the road.
02:18And then the error of each office being a fiefdom
02:22would be over, there would not be 70 plus FDICs,
02:25there'd be one FDIC with all employees in all offices
02:28following the same rules, the same way.
02:34Discuss how your tenure as did SIGTARP
02:39informed your understanding of our banking system
02:43and prepared you to lead the FDIC
02:45into its next much better chapter.
02:49Yeah, thank you, Senator.
02:50SIGTARP is really deep into banks
02:52at the worst time in our nation's history.
02:55We were with inside the same confidential
02:59supervisory privilege that FDIC and other regulators hold.
03:02And so, and we were dealing with failed banks all the time
03:05and banks that were in trouble.
03:06So we are actively monitoring all of the 700 plus banks
03:10in TARP, making recommendations to treasury.
03:14A lot of those were community banks
03:15that were having trouble getting out of TARP.
03:17And we were following all of that
03:19and following their health and condition.
03:22In terms of our investigations,
03:23and we prosecuted more than 100 bankers,
03:26more than 90 bank borrowers who hurt banks.
03:29And so we would go in into banks
03:32just like a bank examiner does.
03:33We would analyze all the bank's books and records,
03:36the examiner's records, we'd be talking to banks,
03:39employees and management, as well as the examiners.
03:42We'd be using our proactive data analytics based system
03:45to trend out call reports
03:47and be looking at camel's ratings
03:48and really trying to identify areas of risk,
03:53how banks were managing with risk,
03:54and then following,
03:55whether they were following the regulatory rules or not.
03:59And then on the largest banks,
04:00I did a lot of work on systemic risk,
04:02capital, liquidity issues, things like that,
04:05and then served on a council of IGs
04:07with oversight over FSOC.
04:11Listening to you, having talked to you before,
04:13and I know you talked to a number of senators
04:15in both parties,
04:17and looking at your experience and background says to me,
04:19there is no question,
04:21there is no real reason to oppose you
04:23except for partisan reasons.
04:25And I hope the committee rises above that.
04:28Ms. Crenshaw, I'm running up against the clock.
04:32We'll have time for one question to her.
04:34Mr. Johnson, Ms. Johnson, Mr. Hito, I apologize for that.
04:37We will get you written questions.
04:39Ms. Crenshaw, Americans become more involved
04:41in financial market in recent years
04:43as workers become responsible for saving
04:46for their own retirements.
04:46That's a whole nother debate.
04:48But the system's often rigged for Wall Street
04:50against everyone else.
04:52We know that most of inflation in this country
04:54is because of corporate greed.
04:56We see all kinds of signs of this is a system
05:00for Wall Street more than for workers.
05:02What steps does SEC need to take
05:06to make sure Americans have the tools
05:08and the information they need to feel confident
05:10they'll be treated fairly as they save for the future?
05:15The fact that Americans' retirement
05:16is in their own hands more than ever
05:18means that the SEC must promote trust in our markets.
05:23We do that by reducing bad actors,
05:25ensuring truthful and appropriate disclosures,
05:28and making sure that market participants
05:30play by the rules, all of them.
05:32This helps maintain confidence in the markets
05:34so investors know it's a safe place to put their money.
05:38Senator.