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Republican Congressman Ranks Cybersecurity, FinTech High on the Priority List
By: Diana Britton, Wealth Management


Washington, Jan 25 -

Patrick McHenry says the House should look closely at the effectiveness of regulators' fintech innovation initiatives, as well as the industry's readiness to protect personal information.

Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) is calling on the House Financial Services Committee to hold hearings in the next couple months on issues he believes are critical to regulating the financial services industry, including cybersecurity and fintech.

McHenry, the ranking Republican leader of the committee, wrote a letter this week to Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), outlining the issues he believes need immediate attention.

“As you know, the challenges we face are great—spreading economic growth and opportunity, promoting consumer choice and affordability in financial products, encouraging innovation and investment in our markets, safeguarding personal information, and fighting corruption, waste, fraud, and abuse,” McHenry writes.

One area the committee should explore is cybersecurity in the financial sector, citing the need to assess firms’ and government’s preparedness to protect personal information against “fraud, misuse, and unauthorized access.”

Regulation of financial technology is another area that deserves attention, he writes. A hearing on the subject would examine the effectiveness of U.S. financial regulators’ offices of innovation and other efforts to encourage innovation in the industry.

Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) is calling on the House Financial Services Committee to hold hearings in the next couple months on issues he believes are critical to regulating the financial services industry, including cybersecurity and fintech.

McHenry, the ranking Republican leader of the committee, wrote a letter this week to Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), outlining the issues he believes need immediate attention.

“As you know, the challenges we face are great—spreading economic growth and opportunity, promoting consumer choice and affordability in financial products, encouraging innovation and investment in our markets, safeguarding personal information, and fighting corruption, waste, fraud, and abuse,” McHenry writes.

One area the committee should explore is cybersecurity in the financial sector, citing the need to assess firms’ and government’s preparedness to protect personal information against “fraud, misuse, and unauthorized access.”

Regulation of financial technology is another area that deserves attention, he writes. A hearing on the subject would examine the effectiveness of U.S. financial regulators’ offices of innovation and other efforts to encourage innovation in the industry.

For example, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has its Innovation Outreach Initiative to help the self-regulatory organization better understand technology innovations in financial services and proactively engage with people in the industry developing or using new fintech. As part of that initiative, the regulator issued a notice last summer, seeking comments on how FINRA can support fintech development. The comment period closed in October.

Other areas of interest to McHenry include Brexit, the Export-Import Bank, Chinese resistance to transparent disclosure of its lending, scheduled reductions to the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet, the Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering, among others.