On March 26, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence held a hearing examining the degree to which federal financial regulators are adapting to new technologies and products in banking and consumer finance, and whether their current organizational structures allow them to do so effectively. Senior federal financial regulatory officials testified on their respective agencies’ strategies for fostering innovation, emphasizing their commitment to transparency, risk management, and updating supervisory frameworks to accommodate emerging technologies, including AI, digital assets, and bank-fintech partnerships, without undermining regulatory standards. The hearing also examined implementation of the GENIUS Act, which established a comprehensive regulatory framework for payment stablecoins (previously covered by InfoBytes here).
Officials from each agency described steps taken to facilitate responsible innovation:
- Fed: The Fed’s director of the Division of Supervision highlighted efforts to increase supervisory transparency.
- FDIC: The FDIC’s director of the Division of Risk Management Supervision detailed reforms to encourage bank experimentation with new technologies and the removal of certain pre-approval requirements for crypto-related activities.
- OCC: The OCC’s senior deputy comptroller and chief national bank examiner focused on the agency’s technology-neutral approach to bank chartering and oversight of digital asset activities.
- NCUA: The NCUA’s acting director outlined its initiatives to support credit union adoption of innovative tools, including AI and blockchain solutions.
Several officials cited ongoing rulemakings, public outreach, and workforce modernization as essential to keeping pace with financial innovation while safeguarding financial system stability. The subcommittee also noticed for discussion the “Financial Services Innovation Act of 2026,” a draft bill that would, in part, require federal regulators to create “Financial Services Innovation Offices” within their agencies to foster financial services innovation.
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