Members of the Republicans have called on the nation’s largest banks to stop ‘inappropriately’ taking liberal stances on social and cultural issues, claims Reuters.
During an oversight hearing, Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) – a senior Republican on the Senate Banking Committee – called on banks to stop ‘embracing a liberal ESG agenda that harms America’.
Reuters noted that Toomey – who has frequently been seen as a bank ally who opposes stricter industry rules – argued that companies are out of bounds when they weigh in on non-banking issues like guns and abortion.
Toomey said, “I can’t help but observe that when banks do weigh-in on highly charged social and political issues, they seem to always come down on the liberal side.”
Reuters said that the increased scrutiny underscores the challenges that the US’ largest lenders face as they try to balance commercial interests with pressure from policymakers, activists and investors to take stances on ESG issues.
Multiple Republicans stated the banks were caving to liberal pressure to weigh in on such issues, with Senator Kevin Cramer (R-SD) stating that banks were feeling pressure to be ‘one of the cool crowd’.
The White House recently launched a framework for the development of digital assets, which is the first of its kind in the US.
According to Finextra, the framework was put together for the ‘responsible development’ of digital assets that includes a ‘more aggressive push by regulators to take on fraud in the sector’.
Copyright © 2022 RegTech Analyst
Copyright © 2018 RegTech Analyst
