Secretary Yellen Defers on Basel, Supports Changes to Increase Liquidity in U.S. Treasury Market

Washington, DC – Today, Congressman Lucas followed up with Secretary Yellen on the impact of the Basel Endgame proposal and also potential reforms to increase participation in U.S. Treasury markets.

Highlighted Quotes:

Lucas: “During our discussion when you were last before the Committee, you largely deferred to the Fed, FDIC, and OCC on the details of the Basel proposal… Is it still your stance to not take a public position on the details of the Basel proposal?”

Yellen: “I am not going to take a stance on the details. I think that is up to the banking agencies.”

Lucas: “Shifting focus, I’d like to discuss the U.S. Treasury market… Given the importance of the Treasury market to the United States and the World, we should ensure robust participation. Undersecretary Liang has suggested that excluding excess reserves held in the Federal Reserve system from the Leverage Ratio could be effective during times of market stress. The Fed did this in 2020, and it was effective. Secretary Yellen, do you agree that there are beneficial reforms that could increase participation in U.S. Treasury markets?”

Yellen: “Well that certainly is a reform that was worthy of discussion and I at the time thought I was very appropriate to take that step and would be supportive of greater liquidity in the treasury market. But, again, this is a decision for the banking regulators but I would hope that they would take this into account.”