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Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, recently requested in a January 22, 2019 letterto Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the Financial Services Committee, among other topics, a hearing on the regulation of Fintech as a means of ensuring all consumers have “fair and transparent access to the financial products they need.” Specifically, Congressman McHenry requested the Financial Services Committee hold a hearing to examine how federal financial regulators have created offices of innovation and pilot programs to encourage innovation in the financial services industry. Congressman McHenry has been a longtime advocate for offices of innovation and urged the Financial Services Committee to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the current regulatory framework.

Congressman McHenry’s letter may signal emerging bipartisan support within the Financial Services Committee to examine and potentially move forward on financial innovation- and financial inclusion-related issues. As we previously highlighted, Chairwoman Waters also included financial innovation and the financial regulators’ responses as one of her priorities for the Financial Services Committee.