The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs held a nominations hearing at which Chairman Tim Scott urged the Senate to confirm four of President Trump’s nominees, framing the appointments as a pathway to rolling back what he described as burdensome regulation and refocusing agencies on their core mandates. The nominees highlighted were Paul Atkins to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Jonathan Gould to serve as Comptroller of the Currency, Luke Pettit to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Institutions, and Marcus Molinaro to be Federal Transit Administrator. Scott argued that Atkins would return the SEC to its core mission, roll back Biden-era policies, promote capital formation and retail investment opportunities, and provide “long-overdue clarity” for digital assets. He also pointed to his Empowering Main Street in America Act as legislation intended to improve access to capital, recalibrate requirements for small and newly public companies, and create new local investment avenues. On bank supervision, Scott called on Gould to end “debanking” and refocus the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on safety and soundness and fair access to services, and he cited what he termed “Chokepoint 2.0” affecting crypto firms. His remarks also credited Acting Comptroller Rodney Hood with removing references to reputational risk from OCC bank examination guidance and instructing examiners not to examine for reputational risk.

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