In a speech earlier this month, Michelle W. Bowman, a Governor at the US Federal Reserve Board, discussed the evolving nature of banking, bank culture, and bank runs.
"Given the recent banking system stress many are welcoming a fresh look at whether the Dodd-Frank era changes to the financial system and the approach to supervision and regulation have kept pace with the evolving nature of banking, the evolving culture of banking, and how the risks of bank runs today have evolved to be meaningfully different from what we've seen in the past," she said.
One such way banking has evolved, Bowman argued, is that the cultures of other industries — namely, tech and startups — have permeated some financial institutions. "A more subtle way we are seeing banking evolve is most evident in the 'culture' of banking for those banks whose business models directly involve funders of startups, transformative new technologies, or novel activities like digital and crypto assets," she said.
In order to supervise these novel risks more effectively, she called for a reevaluation of the Fed's approach to supervision, enforcement, regulation, and technology. "We should have no illusions that 'getting it right'—finding the right combination of regulatory and supervisory changes—is a simple task," Bowman contended. "This fine tuning is a core element of maintaining an effective system, constantly re-evaluating whether our tools are effective and used appropriately."
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