Comer Probes ESG Policies Driving Potential Asset Manager Breach of Federal Laws

WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is today furthering the Committee’s review of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies and their impact on American businesses, consumers, and the economy. In a letter to Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System General Counsel Mark Van Der Weide, Chairman Comer requests additional information related to how ESG policies continue to drive asset manager actions. Chairman Comer emphasizes that additional information is necessary to determine whether ESG related actions trigger requirements under the Bank Holding Company (BHC) Act, the Home Owners Loan Act (HOLA), and the Change in Bank Control (CIBC).

“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is conducting an ongoing review of the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies across the U.S. economy. As part of this review, the Committee is examining whether (1) certain asset managers are in breach of agreements with the Federal Reserve System and (2) how the broader asset management industry may be subject to the Bank Holding Company (BHC) Act, the Home Owners Loan Act (HOLA), and the Change in Bank Control (CIBC) Act as a result of ESG related pledges and actions taken pursuant to those pledges,” Chairman Comer wrote.

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability held a hearing in May 2023 to examine how asset managers and activist shareholders are partnering with liberal advocacy groups to push ESG priorities and a radical political agenda with Americans’ money.

“Pledges to act in concert with other signatories, actively pursue outcomes and use all assets under management to achieve the stated goals of the various agreements, appear to directly violate the terms laid out in your 2019 and 2020 letters. […] It is critical we understand whether asset managers are abiding by the conditions the Federal Reserve has set for them and whether the Federal Reserve and other Federal banking regulators are monitoring the asset management industry’s activities,” Chairman Comer continued.

Read the letter to General Counsel of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Mark Van Der Weide here.