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| | President Joe Biden’s appointment of Christy Goldsmith Romero to head the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will put the longtime regulator atop a powerful agency that’s been torched by findings of rampant harassment and toxic behavior. If she’s approved by the Senate, repairing that culture will be her first job. But she’ll also be tasked with policing more than 4,500 banks that hold about $24 trillion in assets. And if you know Goldsmith Romero, you know she takes a dim view of regulators who downplay their enforcement responsibilities. Here’s how Goldsmith Romero once described her responsibilities as special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the massive government bank rescue operation where she was charged with leading 140 people (including 85 special agents) who investigated fraud, waste and abuse at financial institutions: “I knew that we could not turn to the bank regulators to point us to the fraud,” she said, describing her efforts to develop “innovative techniques” to identify bad behavior. In some cases, she said, “bankers have been going to jail and being sentenced to prison.” Clearly, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is a fan. “My kinda gal,” Warren told reporters on Thursday, per Eleanor Mueller. “The bankers may not love her; you might want to check out how many she put in jail.” Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) says he’ll quickly push through her confirmation hearings. Key Democrats on the committee like Sens. John Fetterman (Pa.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.) and Mark Warner (Va.) said they were optimistic about her nomination, Michael Stratford and Eleanor report.
| | A message from U.S. Bank: At U.S. Bank, we believe everyone deserves financial freedom. That’s why we provided 1.5 million people with financial education in 2023. Through partnerships like our program with the University of St. Thomas, we’re empowering young people with tools to lay the foundation for long-term financial wellness. Because U.S. Bank is small enough to care, and big enough to make a difference. Learn more. | | | Goldsmith Romero has already been unanimously confirmed by the Senate twice, first for her role at SIGTARP and again when she was named to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2022. Her path to confirmation as FDIC chair is more challenging, but Republican lawmakers are mostly holding fire — for now. In the coming weeks, she’ll likely get questions from lawmakers about some of the more aggressive stances she took when it came to enforcement while at the CFTC, the government’s derivatives market regulator. She’s been critical of regulatory settlements that allow firms and their executives to “neither admit nor deny” wrongdoing and told Declan Harty last year that the government can’t “keep taking the same action and expecting different results.” Her thoughts on the risks posed by crypto — which she once compared to those that caused the global financial crisis — are unlikely to earn many plaudits from that industry and its allies in Congress. “I don’t think anybody regulated by the CFTC will be sorry to see her go,” an industry official who was granted anonymity to discuss concerns about the pending nomination told Declan. But with the FDIC’s internal culture in tatters, she’ll also lean on her experience as the manager of a law enforcement agency and white-collar crime investigator. If she gets the job, both will be relevant. — h/t Michael Stratford, Declan Harty, Eleanor Mueller IT’S FRIDAY — Send tips and suggestions to ssutton@politico.com or on Signal at 925.216.7576.
| | | | THE GOLD STANDARD OF FINANCIAL SERVICES POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries, like financial services, equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists.
Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other. Our financial services reporting team—including Zach Warmbrodt, Victoria Guida and Declan Harty—is embedded with the market-moving legislative committees and agencies in Washington and across states, delivering unparalleled coverage of financial policy and the financial services industry. We bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY. | | | | | | | | | The CFTC has a closed meeting at 9 a.m. … The preliminary consumer sentiment estimate for June will be released at 10 a.m. … Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee has a fireside chat at the Iowa Farm Bureau Economic Summit at 2 p.m. … Former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke and former Fed Vice Chair Donald Kohn will speak at the Brookings Institution about the Fed’s monetary policy framework at 2 p.m. … Fed Governor Lisa Cook will speak at an American Economic Association event at 7 p.m. Trump swings through Washington — Former President Donald Trump pitched his agenda to top U.S. CEOs at the Business Roundtable meeting on Thursday. He didn’t serve up many surprises, sources told MM. He said he would eliminate taxes on tips for service workers and insisted that the wars in Ukraine and Russia would never have occurred on his watch. He said he wants to cut the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 21 percent. And he claimed he would put an end to the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. The biggest surprise? His tone. Trump’s message wasn’t delivered in “that over-the-top rallying way," one source told me, adding that his approach appeared tailored to appeal to the top-level executives. — In his meetings on Capitol Hill, the former president also framed his plan to eliminate tip taxes as part of his messaging on inflation, Eleanor reports. "He talked about inflation extensively,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told reporters. “The 'no taxes on tips' came up in that context, where he just said, 'People, if they are getting a raise, it's not enough.” — One major policy shift Trump proposed on the Hill was replacing the income tax with tariffs. His campaign is already downplaying it, saying he “simply floated the idea as one of many brought up during the conversation,” Ari Hawkins and Doug Palmer report. Ukraine deal secured — Biden scored a major foreign policy win on Thursday after striking a deal with allies to back a $50 billion loan to help Ukraine’s war effort and economic reconstruction, Michael Stratford reports. Critically, the deal insulates the money from electoral politics on both sides of the Atlantic, including the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November. He’s rich — Reuters: “Tesla shareholders approved Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package, as it happened”
| | | | A message from U.S. Bank:   | | | | | Another turn in the CFPB funding fight — Republicans on Senate Banking have introduced a bill to bring the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under congressional appropriations, Katy O’Donnell reports. “By subjecting the CFPB to the congressional appropriations process, this legislation will increase accountability and help Congress ensure the agency stays true to its mission,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said in a statement. Johnson on the move — In addition to Goldsmith Romero, Biden also plans to nominate CFTC Commissioner Kristin Johnson to be Treasury’s assistant secretary for financial institutions, Declan reports. In-house proceedings — The Supreme Court on Thursday narrowed the National Labor Relations Board’s authority to seek judicial injunctions while in-house enforcement proceedings are pending, Nick Niedzwiadek reports.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, our newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | | | | | Trump’s crypto love affair — Trump is embracing the energy demands of crypto mining as a way to make the U.S. “energy dominant,” Scott Waldman reports.
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