As a member of the Senate Banking Committee, Senator Warner is involved in efforts to oversee the financial services, banking, and housing industries. He is engaged in hearings, meetings, and legislative efforts to maintain effective regulation and financial stability while fostering economic recovery.
Senator Warner's Progress:
- On September 27, 2012, Senator Warner led a letter with 52 other Senators to the banking regulators. The letter expressed concerns that the proposed rules on Basel III regulatory capital ratios, capital adequacy and transition provisions did not take into account considerations for different business models or size of institution.
- Senator Warner introduced S. 2223 on March 22, 2012 with Senators Crapo, Toomey, Hagan, Carper and Corker. The bill intends to provide certainty about when the Volcker rule will be enforced. The language clarified that the Volcker Rule will be fully implemented two years after the agencies issue their final rules, rather than two years after Dodd-Frank was signed into law.
- In 2011, Senator Warner was appointed chair of the Banking Committee's Subcommittee on Security and International Trade and Finance, which oversees exports and foreign trade and international economic policy. Senator Warner has held subcommittee hearings during 2011-2012 addressing:
- The European Debt and Financial Crisis
- The G20 and Global Economic and Financial Risks
- Stakeholder Perspectives on Reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank of the United States
- Reviewing the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue
- In September 2010, the Senator advocated that banking and credit union regulators take a balanced regulatory approach to small business lending as the economic recovery gained momentum. He sent a letter with 10 other Senators advocating that regulators provide guidance to supervisory staff regarding loan portfolios and small business loan workouts due to reduced cash flows and collateral values following the crisis.
- Throughout 2009 and early 2010, Senator Warner teamed up with Tennessee Republican Senator Bob Corker to work-out a bipartisan proposal to end the notion of "too big to fail" and to put in place tools that will allow regulators to identify and liquidate large financial companies which could be dangerous to financial stability if they were to default. Their proposal was included in Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd's financial regulatory reform draft legislation, which was introduced in March 2010.
- In November 2009, Senator Warner introduced legislation to create an independent council to monitor systemic risk. He published an op-ed in the Washington Post in June 2009 outlining the details of the council.
- In July 2009, Senator Warner introduced the Resolution Reform Act of 2009, bipartisan legislation with Tennessee Senator Bob Corker that would allow the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to takeover and wind down banks owned by larger financial firms known as bank holding companies.
- In June 2009, Senator Warner introduced the TARP Recipient Ownership Trust Act of 2009, another piece of bipartisan legislation with Tennessee Senator Bob Corker to maximize returns on taxpayer investments into institutions that have received government assistance.