According to the Wall Street Journal, Michelle Bowman, who has been nominated to serve as the US Federal Reserve's next Vice Chair for Supervision, plans to review and potentially revise its approach to assigning ratings to large banks.
In a February 2025 speech, Bowman criticized what she sees as a "mismatch" between banks' financial condition and the unsatisfactory ratings issued to two-thirds of the largest institutions last year. Now, in an unusual move, the Fed has delayed its issuance of updated ratings, which it typically shares by March. Critics argue the ratings are overly subjective, especially as they pertain to matters of governance and controls.
In an article published by the FT's Banking Risk and Regulation last year, Starling Founder & CEO Stephen Scott discusses how technology can be used to produce objective metrics to replace subjective assessments of qualitative factors, like governance and management.
"Reliance on subjective assessments and opaque decision-making, coupled with a system that penalizes firms without offering them a fair chance to contest or even to understand the basis for those penalties, stifles innovation, restricts growth, and undermines trust," he writes. "It's time to embrace technologies that ensure greater transparency, consistency, and fairness in how we assess the effective management of qualitative operational risks." ▸ Read More
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