A group of Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee are seeking details from the Federal Reserve on an Aug. 30 leak of nonpublic confidential supervisory information (CSI) involving multiple financial firms.
The lawmakers are requesting that the Fed provide additional details on the leak to ensure accountability. The letter was signed by 23 members of the committee, led by Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY), chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy.
“We write to express our concerns about leaks of confidential, market-moving information from your agency regarding supervisory and regulatory plans and actions,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Fed Chair Jerome Powell. “On July 17, 2023, ten days prior to your agency issuing notices of proposed rulemakings (NPRs), details of the proposals were reported in the press. Those details unveiled significant and accurate aspects of the NPRs, including information sought by members of the Financial Services Committee prior to publication that was not provided to the Committee.”
Then on Aug. 30, they said that confidential supervisory information (CSI) was revealed in the press.
“Included in those press reports are details of CSI, identified by firm name, on regulatory warnings labeled matters requiring attention (MRAs) and matters requiring immediate attention (MRIAs). Press reports sourced the nonpublic CSI information that was inappropriately revealed to ‘people familiar with the matter,’” they wrote. “In our mind, it is unlikely ‘those people familiar with the matter’ are from each of the individual firms listed in the press reports. Equally unlikely is that the press reports involve unsubstantiated speculation by reporters. We are concerned that the leaks may be from within your agency or other agencies with whom you shared the CSI. Any leak of CSI, especially tied to individual firms’ identities, would be a revelation of highly market-sensitive information.”