ICYMI: WSJ: THE ARKANSAS BANKER VYING TO RUN CONGRESS'S POWERFUL FINANCIAL COMMITTEE
WASHINGTON, D.C.,
November 25, 2024
The Arkansas Banker Vying to Run Congress's Powerful Financial Committee
by Corrie Driebusch Wall Street Journal November 25, 2024 President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to make cryptocurrencies mainstream might rest on a former community banker from Arkansas who is seeking to become the most influential congressman in the financial world. Rep. French Hill, a Republican, is vying for the chairmanship of the powerful House committee that governs Wall Street and oversees financial regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Treasury Department. The House Financial Services Committee calls bank executives to testify, investigates financial blowups and has for years been trying to draft the laws that would bring comprehensive regulation to cryptocurrencies. Unlike many of the financiers in Trump’s orbit who are jostling for power, Hill didn’t build his credentials working for a large Wall Street bank or private-equity firm. He started a small community bank, speaks with a Southern drawl and says he wants to “Make Community Banks Great Again.” Hill is considered an underdog in the race to be chairman of the House Financial Services Committee against close Trump ally Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky. But whether Hill is chair or not, it is his bill on how to regulate cryptocurrencies that has emerged as likely to pass the new Republican-controlled Congress and make it to Trump’s desk. His grasp of the technological details and intricacies has impressed crypto land and won bipartisan support. He is an advocate for crypto to be considered its own asset class, not trying to shoehorn it into existing rules for stocks and bonds. And he thinks Congress should investigate Biden administration agencies for targeting the industry. Hill wants Washington to stop being afraid of crypto, or, as he would rather talk about it, “digital assets.” “My whole career I’ve been interested in technology and finance and how technology and finance cuts costs,” Hill said in an interview. Little Rock rootsHill, 67 years old, whose Arkansas district includes parts of Little Rock, grew up in a financial family. His paternal grandfather started an investment firm in the middle of the Great Depression. His maternal grandfather was a receiver for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation the year it was founded in 1933. Early in his career, Hill was a staffer on the Senate Banking Committee and worked on George H.W. Bush’s Economic Policy Council and in the Treasury Department. He then returned to Little Rock, founding the Delta Trust & Bank in 1999. His banking foray was successful; but, in 2014, Hill put the bank up for sale and ran for Congress. “I don’t think he ever got Washington out of his blood,” said George Makris Jr., the executive chairman of Simmons First National, which bought Delta Trust. Hill has quietly built his influence in Washington and says he avoids the spotlight. He is far from a firebrand. While his two children were still in high school, he traveled home every weekend to be with them and his wife. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer called Hill a “good friend and an outstanding legislator.” Red-tape frustrationsThe sale of Delta Trust helped formulate Hill’s views on banking regulation. The deal ran into red tape over a single branch in Eudora, Ark. Simmons couldn’t purchase the branch because of regulations about banking concentration. The tedious process was about a branch serving the catfish capital of Arkansas with a population of about 2,000. “French understands firsthand some of the antiquated rules and regulations that are preventing community banks from thriving, especially in rural areas,” said Makris, the Simmons chairman. In 2015, Hill joined the Financial Services Committee where he is now vice chairman and looking to put those views into action. A deposit crisis in banks last year renewed criticism that some banks are “too big to fail” and enjoy implicit government support, while small banks are left vulnerable and are struggling. Attempts by regulators to fix the problem by imposing higher capital requirements are now in flux after industry and GOP pushback that the burdens would be unfair. “What is required to properly regulate JPMorgan Chase is not true for a $50 billion bank headquartered in Little Rock or Dallas,” said Hill. Crypto fanIn 2023, Hill became chair of the subcommittee on digital assets and got to work drafting a bill that would make certain cryptocurrencies exempt from many securities regulations. Staffers and lobbyists say Hill’s knowledge and understanding of the crypto world is unusual in politics. “There are some members you talk concepts with, but with French, you’re in the details,” said one lobbyist, citing Hill’s views on why they are securities versus commodities. Hill’s re-election campaign this year took in thousands of dollars year from the industry, including crypto exchange Coinbase and venture investor Andreessen Horowitz. The bill Hill wrote, the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, or FIT21, passed with 71 Democrats joining Republicans in favor. The bill hasn’t had a vote in the Senate. Staffers and lobbyists in Washington said the bipartisan support shows Hill’s skill at building consensus. With Republicans now poised to control the Senate and Trump promising to back the industry, Hill’s bill now seems more likely to pass. ‘I like being the boss’The finance committee chairmanship will be determined in early December by the Steering Committee, a group of around 30 Republicans who decide who will lead each committee in the new Congress. For Hill, some wonder if his decision in October 2023 to vote “present” in an early roll-call vote during Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson’s bid for House Speaker might come back to haunt him. He ultimately supported Johnson as speaker later that month. For Barr, speculation that he might run for Sen. Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat if the Kentucky Republican retires in two years might hurt his chances, some say. Hill is openly campaigning, but will keep going out of the spotlight if he loses. “I like being the boss; I like being in the leadership position,” said Hill. “But I’m also very very content to have done it from behind the scenes.” Hill’s main competition is Barr of Kentucky, who has been campaigning as Trump’s close ally. Around the halls of the Capitol, chatter swirls about both candidates’ hurdles. |
