Federal Reserve Board Chair Testifies On Enforcement Policy, Virtual Currency Oversight

Federal Reserve Enforcement Bank Supervision Virtual Currency

On February 27, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Janet Yellen made her first appearance as Chair before the Senate Banking Committee. During the course of the question and answer session, Ms. Yellen responded to a recent letter from Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD) that encouraged the Federal Reserve Board to play a larger role in major supervisory and enforcement decisions, as opposed to delegating most examination and settlement responsibilities to staff.  Chairman Yellen generally agreed that the Board itself should play a larger part in supervision and enforcement and stated that she “fully expects” the Board to make changes to its policies. She added that with regard to legislation recently introduced by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Tom Coburn (R-OK) that would require greater transparency in federal settlements, the Federal Reserve Board intends to look carefully at what it discloses about enforcement actions and settlements and will try to provide more disclosure. Among the numerous other topics covered during the hearing, Chairman Yellen also addressed virtual currency issues, stating the Federal Reserve Board currently has no authority to oversee virtual currency. Her comments followed a letter sent on February 26, 2014 by Banking Committee member Joe Manchin (D-WV) to federal financial and enforcement authorities asking for a complete ban on Bitcoin in the United States. Ms. Yellen stated that while Congress should consider the appropriate legal framework for virtual currency, “there's no intersection at all in any way between Bitcoin and banks that the Federal Reserve has the ability to supervise and regulate. So the Federal Reserve simply does not have authority to supervise or regulate Bitcoin in any way.”