Biden is calling on Congress to tighten rules to restore executive salaries and impose penalties in cases of bank failures

President Joe Biden has called on Congress to give regulators more power to recover their salaries and punish executives at troubled banks “whose mismanagement contributed to the failure of their institutions.”

“No one is above the law – and promoting accountability is an important deterrent to preventing future mismanagement,” Biden said in a statement on Friday. “When banks fail due to mismanagement and excessive risk taking, it should be easier for regulators to recover damages from executives, impose civil penalties, and prevent executives from working in the banking industry again.”

Biden indicated that his powers to hold executives accountable are restricted by law and asked Congress to intervene.

“Congress should work to impose tougher sanctions on senior bank executives whose mismanagement contributed to the failure of their institutions,” Biden said.

The nation’s top bank regulators announced Sunday that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Reserve will cover deposits in full at both failing banks, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, relying on Wall Street and the major financial institutions — not taxpayers — to foot the bill. . New York-based Signature Bank, which was closed on Sunday due to similar systemic infection concerns as SVB, has been a popular funding source for cryptocurrency firms.

The president stressed that the measures taken over the weekend were necessary to prevent further economic fallout, but he did not use taxpayers’ money.

“Our banking system is more resilient and stable today because of the actions we’ve taken,” Biden said. “Monday morning, I told the American people and American businesses that they should feel confident that their deposits will be there if they need them. That continues to be the case.”