The Senate Banking Committee voted 13-11 on Nov. 19 to advance Travis Hill’s nomination to become the permanent chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). Multiple trade organizations representing the financial services industry have called for his expeditious confirmation.
Hill spent more than two years as the FDIC’s vice chairman before being named acting chairman on Jan. 20. From 2018 to 2022, Hill served as senior advisor to the chairman, then as deputy to the chairman for policy.
Following his nomination hearing in October, Hill told the committee his priorities for the agencies would include “reforming supervision to focus more on material financial risks and less on process, improving our readiness to resolve large financial institutions, and making a range of adjustments to our capital framework.”
His experience and support for less stringent regulations on financial institutions have garnered him support among the financial services industry.
“His past leadership at the FDIC, combined with his deep regulatory expertise and thoughtful policymaking, make him exceptionally qualified to lead the agency as chairman,” Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO Bob Broeksmit said in a statement. “Once confirmed, MBA looks forward to working with Travis Hill to streamline regulations for insured depositories and advance policies that strengthen housing affordability, promote investment in our communities, and support bank participation in the mortgage market – particularly through improvements in a revised Basel III Endgame framework and recalibrating capital standards, including those for mortgage servicing rights and warehouse lending.”
Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey wrote to the committee ahead of Hill’s nomination hearing, emphasizing his experience and understanding of the importance of community banks in supporting local communities.
“Mr. Hill is well prepared to deal in a thoughtful and informed manner with numerous critical, emerging policy questions before the FDIC,” she wrote. “These include advancing tiered regulation, challenges to America’s longstanding separation of banking and commerce and ensuring that any reforms to our deposit insurance system promote depositor confidence and curb the harmful advantage enjoyed by too-big-to-fail banks.”
The committee also voted to advance the nominations of Joseph Gormley to be president of the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); Francis Cassidy to be assistant secretary, HUD; and Paul Hollis to be director of the U.S. Mint.