An examination of federal efforts to combat money laundering will continue this week as senators hold their second hearing on the subject in the past week, while House members mark up more “regulatory relief” legislation.
Also this week, nominations for two top positions at the nation’s federal deposit insurance agency and the nation’s central bank will be voted on again.
The Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing Wednesday to explore reforming and strengthening federal anti-money laundering efforts. The committee held a hearing last week on the same subject, but from the perspective of law enforcement and financial institutions. This week’s hearings will feature the views from the Trump administration.
Scheduled to testify are Sigal Mandelker, Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial crimes; and M. Kendall Day, acting deputy assistant attorney general, Justice Department criminal division.
Earlier in the morning, the Banking Committee will vote on the nomination of Jerome H. Powell to be Federal Reserve Board chairman, and on Randal Quarles for reappointment as a member of the board.
The committee has previously approved Powell; however, his nomination (and others already approved by other Senate committee) have to be re-approved by the committee. The White House had to resubmit the nominations given since a new session of Congress started this month.
Quarles is being considered for a 14-year term on the Fed board; he was previously approved to fill out a term that is ending next month.
This week’s schedule also includes:
- Wednesday markup in the House Financial Services Committee of 17 “regulatory relief” measures; the markup may continue later in the week.
- Release Thursday of the agenda for the Jan. 25 meeting of the NCUA Board of Directors. The board is now chaired by J. Mark McWatters, who is reportedly under consideration to be the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
- Comments due Tuesday on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) web-based quantitative testing of point of sale/ATM (POS/ATM) overdraft disclosure forms. The forms were released for comment Nov. 15, before the leadership of the agency changed from Director Richard Cordray (appointed by President Barack Obama) to Acting Director Mick Mulvaney (appointed by President Donald Trump) in late November. The testing is intended to explore consumer comprehension and decision-making in response to overdraft disclosure forms. It was also intended to explore financial product usage, behavioral traits, and other consumer characteristics that may interact with a consumer’s experiences with overdraft programs and related disclosure forms.