Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, delivered the following opening statement during an Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing entitled, “Oversight of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank: GAO’s Preliminary Review.”

I thank the GAO for the preliminary review it issued at my and Chair McHenry’s request on the failure of Silicon Valley and Signature Banks. The GAO has clearly described how the FDIC and the Fed repeatedly informed these banks, as early as 2018, about deficiencies in their liquidity and risk management. Instead of taking action, these banks ignored the warnings. Let me be clear, regulators need to be more aggressive, something I’ve long been demanding with regard to repeated abuses at Wells Fargo. However, it was the responsibility of the banks, first and foremost, to swiftly and thoroughly correct the deficiencies that were flagged by regulators.

We now need to hold banks and their executives accountable, reverse Trump-era deregulation, enhance supervision of banks, and reform deposit insurance.

Thank you, I yield back.

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