House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) wrote to the Federal Reserve today urging the agency to “fully cooperate” with the Government Accountability Office’s investigation of the Fed’s capital planning and stress test regimes. Hensarling has requested GAO to review the costs, benefits, effectiveness and transparency of the Fed’s Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review program for banks with more than $50 billion in assets and the Dodd-Frank Act-mandated stress tests for banks with assets over $10 billion.
Hensarling noted that he was particularly concerned “that the Fed may have added items to the stress tests that were conceived, negotiated and approved in closed-door international meetings.” He added that “international fora are not readily subject to congressional oversight, nor are proposals adopted therein subject to public notice and comment under the Administrative Procedure Act.”
