A level-headed Fed board nomination

One of the brighter spots to come out of the wild headlines and chaos of Washington, D.C., these days is the nomination of Michelle “Miki” Bowman by President Trump to become vice chair for supervision of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System..Bowman is a practical, clear-eyed public servant who provided a refreshing statement about how she would approach the job at her April 10 hearing. Bowman, a Fed governor since 2018, said she would prioritize “reforming and refocusing supervision, restoring regulatory tailoring, ensuring a viable path for innovation in the banking system and promoting transparency and accountability.”Since the beginning of the year, Bowman has addressed events hosted by banker associations in Wisconsin, Iowa and Kansas where she elaborated on these priorities. Bowman has talked for years about the importance of adjusting regulatory expectations to the size of the institution that is being regulated. She questioned, “for example, imposing the same regulatory requirements on banks with assets $2 billion to $2 trillion under the new rules implementing the Community Reinvestment Act” during her state group presentations. “I question the wisdom of applying the same evaluation standards to banks within such a broad range.”Bowman points out that poorly-tailored regulatory enforcement doesn’t just impact banks, but impacts communities and borrowers who see their cost of credit rise.Two other things I liked about her state association presentations: First, she raised the scourge of check fraud. This is a very practical and real problem for the entire industry and Bowman believes that regulators and the Federal government share a responsibility to mitigate it. And second, she talked about the importance of innovation. Too often it seems regulators work to stifle innovation. It is important for everyone, including regulators, to understand that if you are doing the same thing today as you did last year, you are probably out of date. The pace of change doesn’t slow down for anyone.An attorney who has served both the public and private sector, worked in a Midwest community bank, and served as a bank regulator on both the state and federal level, Bowman seems to have the experience to be able to help both consumers and the bankers who serve them thrive in the coming years as vice chair of supervision at the Fed.