Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Acting Chairman Travis Hill sets priorities including rule review, merger policy rewrite and withdrawal of recent proposals

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation published a statement from Acting Chairman Travis Hill, who assumed the role on 20 January 2025, setting out issues the agency expects to focus on in the coming weeks and months. The agenda spans a wholesale review of the FDIC’s regulatory and supervisory approach, changes to merger policy and supervision, and steps aimed at strengthening resolution preparedness after the 2023 bank failures. Priorities include reviewing regulations, guidance and manuals; taking a more transparent approach to fintech partnerships, digital assets and tokenization; and engaging on rising technology costs for community banks. The statement also calls for replacing the FDIC’s 2024 bank merger Statement of Policy and improving approval timelines for transactions that satisfy the Bank Merger Act, withdrawing recent proposals such as those on brokered deposits and corporate governance, refocusing supervision on core financial risks and reevaluating the supervisory appeals process. Other areas identified include enhancing readiness to resolve large institutions and improving the bidding process, pursuing adjustments to capital and liquidity rules, encouraging de novo bank formation, ensuring law-abiding customers maintain access to banking services, modernizing implementation of the Bank Secrecy Act, studying deposit behavior, expanding disclosure and transparency where it does not affect safety and soundness or financial stability, tightening adherence to statutory mandates, improving internal efficiencies to protect the Deposit Insurance Fund, and reinforcing workforce culture and accountability for misconduct.