Center for American Progress

To mitigate climate risks, it’s time for new leadership at the FDIC
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To mitigate climate risks, it’s time for new leadership at the FDIC

Todd Phillips discusses why new leadership is needed at the FDIC in order to mitigate climate-related risks to the financial system.

Last month, the nation’s top banking and financial regulators released a groundbreaking report that recognizes for the first time that climate change is a threat to the stability of the U.S. financial system. Sitting as the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) — a body created in 2010 to identify and respond to systemic risks facing the banking, securities, derivatives and insurance sectors — regulators concluded that they must quickly act to “identify and address climate-related risks to the financial system,” and they provided over 30 steps they can begin taking immediately.

These top regulators all agreed except one: The Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Jelena McWilliams, abstained from voting on the report, saying that the Council did not “conduct sufficient analysis, fully consider broader macro consequences and thoroughly evaluate the impact of its recommendations.”

The above excerpt was originally published in The Hill. Click here to view the full article.

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Authors

Todd Phillips

Former Director, Financial Regulation and Corporate Governance