WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, today released the following statement after voting against advancement of the Recovering Executive Compensation Obtained from Unaccountable Practices (RECOUP) Act in a Senate Banking Committee Hearing legislative markup:
“What happened at Silicon Valley Bank with executives cashing out just before their bank failed is inexcusable, as is the fact that the FDIC hasn’t exercised its current authority to claw back these bonuses. And while I support legislation that strengthens accountability for bank failures, I cannot support the RECOUP Act as drafted.
“First, by targeting regional banks and ignoring the biggest banks who have government-backed, too-big-to-fail status and are therefore immune from clawbacks, it will have the perverse effect of making the biggest banks even bigger, at the expense of these smaller banks.
“Second, it lets the government regulators and bureaucrats—whose supervisory failures led to SVB’s collapse—off scot-free. In fact, it empowers government agencies even more. A serious attempt at accountability for the recent banking crisis cannot ignore a key culprit.
“I look forward to exploring potential legislation to address this and will continue to fight for accountability in our banking system.”
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