U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Jon Tester (D-MT) are urging President Joe Biden to appoint an independent investigator to probe the causes of the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic Bank, and Signature Bank.
In a letter to Biden, Tillis and Tester stress that recent reviews of the causes of the bank failures conducted by federal regulators are insufficient. The senators said an impartial examination is needed to hold both bank executives and federal regulators accountable for their potential roles in these recent bank failures.
“We write to you today to express our continued concern regarding the recent failures in the United States banking system and the actions by federal and state-level financial regulators to review and assess these failures,” Tillis and Tester wrote to Biden. “Given the breadth of market impact and unanswered questions that still remain, we respectfully request that you appoint an independent investigator to further examine the facts and circumstances of these recent bank failures.”
The senators added that an independent investigation will help restore confidence in the American banking system and prevent future failures:
“An outside, independent review of the supervisory and management errors that contributed to the failures would be a vital step toward restoring confidence in the banking system and preventing future failures. This thorough assessment will ultimately benefit taxpayers, policymakers, as well as regulators at the federal and state level and ensure well-run banks are not asked to once more make up for losses attributable to risky behavior by reckless executives and lackluster agency oversight,” they wrote.