Randal K Quarles: Supervision and regulation report

Testimony of Mr Randal K Quarles, Vice Chairman for Supervision of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, US Senate, Washington DC, 12 May 2020.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Chairman Crapo, Ranking Member Brown, members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. The past two months have been a time of exceptional economic hardship. The Congress has displayed an extraordinary willingness to act, in concert and at speed, to address this hardship and its wide-ranging consequences. I appreciate your dedication to continuing our common work, as well as the chance to appear.

The report accompanying my testimony reviews supervisory and regulatory steps the Federal Reserve has taken to address the economic and financial challenges of the current economic contraction. I do not plan to repeat those steps here, although I am happy to answer questions about them in detail. Instead, I will briefly outline the Federal Reserve's approach to supporting the nation's economy, maintaining the supply of credit, and reducing the economic impact of the various containment measures taken in response to public health concerns. This approach applies, not only to our efforts thus far, but also to the efforts that we-and the financial sector-will make to support households and businesses in the months ahead.