Along with Dimon, the other CEOs scheduled to appear are: David Solomon of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., James Gorman of Morgan Stanley, Michael Corbat of Citigroup Inc., Brian Moynihan of Bank of America Corp., Charles Scharf of Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and Ronald O’Hanley of State Street Corp.
Absent will be anyone from Wells Fargo & Co. The tarnished bank got its own turn in the spotlight when CEO Tim Sloan testified last month. He stepped down two weeks later.
In remarks prepared for this week’s hearing, the bank leaders touted their efforts to hire women and minorities, highlighted lending in low-income communities and credited regulations for making their firms safer. Gorman even praised the Volcker Rule, saying its trading restrictions are preventing Morgan Stanley from taking “extraordinary risks."
But banks may not get much more of a chance to tell the story they want Wednesday. The committee plans to have them appear as a group –- a configuration that means the executives will probably have little time to give in-depth answers to questions from as many as 60 lawmakers, 34 Democrats and 26 Republicans.
Questionable Purpose
The setup isn’t conducive to serious policy discussions, a point that Republicans have been quick to make.
“Other than to pull before the committee the CEOs of the seven big banks, what’s the purpose of it?’’ asked North Carolina Representative Patrick McHenry, the top Republican on the panel. “It’s an attempt for media attention.’’
Moderate Democrats on the panel are wary, too.
“From a politics perspective, it’s so cheap and easy to beat up on the financial services sector. That isn’t what we should be doing here,’’ said Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat who said he has “constructive’’ questions on housing, small business lending and financial technology that he wants to pose.
Important Oversight