President Joe Biden on Friday called on Congress to make it easier for regulators to punish executives at failed banks ― including by taking their bonuses away.
Biden said federal law prevented his administration from holding banks accountable.
“When banks fail due to mismanagement and excessive risk taking, it should be easier for regulators to claw back compensation from executives, to impose civil penalties, and to ban executives from working in the banking industry again,” Biden said in a statement.
Biden’s proposal follows the federal takeover of Silicon Valley Bank in California after it was unable to honor withdrawal requests from depositors last week. Federal agencies also shut down Signature Bank in New York and took the dramatic step of guaranteeing all deposits at the two banks, despite many of their values greatly exceeding the $250,000 covered by federal deposit insurance.
The moves were designed to prevent depositors at other regional banks from yanking out their…
