Senators to Bank Regulators: Fix the Process for "Matters Requiring Attention"

Senate Republicans called on federal banking regulators to reassess the supervisory process for Matters Requiring Attention ("MRAs") and Matters Requiring Immediate Attention ("MRIAs"). 

In a letter addressed to the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, and the OCC, the lawmakers were critical of the treatment of MRAs - as mandatory supervisory findings - despite "not [being] explicitly mentioned in any law or regulation." The Senators asserted that each banking agency has developed its own internal criteria for MRAs, leading to conflicting expectations and confusion among financial institutions.

The legislators argued that banks have no formal avenue to challenge MRAs, and regulators face no accountability for failing to follow up or enforce resolution. The result, they warned, is an overuse of MRAs without clear materiality thresholds—undermining their value as a credible supervisory tool and allowing legitimate risks to go unaddressed.

The Senators cited the March 2023 failure of Silicon Valley Bank as evidence of systemic shortcomings, noting that the bank had 31 open MRAs and MRIAs—some unresolved for over a year—including multiple warnings related to liquidity risk. The Senators stated that, despite this, regulators "disregarded their own findings" and maintained favorable ratings up until the bank’s collapse.

The legislators called on regulators to adopt clear, legally grounded, and uniform standards for issuing and resolving MRAs through formal rulemaking. They also urged a review of confidentiality rules that may impair banks’ ability to respond to supervisory concerns.