HFSC Vice-Chairman Rep. French Hill: Republicans’ Focus for Remainder of Biden Admin is Pushing Back on Regulators

Speaking before a group of community bankers, Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) said that for the rest of the Biden Administration, House Republicans’ focus will be pushing back on regulators’ policies, as well as introducing legislation to “lead us in the right direction,” according to an article in American Banker. Hill is currently Vice Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Chairman of the Committee’s Subcommittee on Digital Assets, and is running to be the Committee’s top Republican in the next Congress, with current Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) retiring.

One key area Hill sees overreach is with regard to fintech. As American Banker noted, “Hill and many other Republicans interpret steps being taken by banking regulators to address fintech and crypto policy as effectively shutting out banks from those businesses.” Hence, in his remarks, Hill criticized the Federal Reserve for outlining how it would oversee “novel activities,” such as tech-driven partnerships with nonbanks and activities including cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies.

He also said that one of his goals in the next Congress is demonstrating to regulators and Congress that fintech “can benefit banks,” and investigating how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can play a role in the financial services industry.

“We’re bringing in the regulators, asking them how they’re using AI in their own practice and their own services to you, and how they’re looking at AI from a supervisory perspective,” Hill said.