Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin held calls on Sunday with the heads of the six largest U.S. banks to shore up confidence in the U.S. financial system amid the recent market turmoil.
“The banks all confirmed ample liquidity is available for lending to consumer and business markets,” a statement from the Treasury said.
Mnuchin spoke with J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Bank of America‘s Brian Moynihan, Goldman Sachs‘ David Solomon, Morgan Stanley‘s James Gorman, Tim Sloan of Wells Fargo and Michael Corbat of Citigroup.
“We continue to see strong economic growth in the U.S. economy with robust activity from consumers and business,” said Secretary Mnuchin in the statement.
Wells Fargo declined to comment on the calls. The other five banks did not immediately return CNBC’s requests for comment.
Mnuchin is dealing with several issues facing investors and the financial system right now:
- A stock market sell-off that pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average last week to its worst drop in 10 years. The S&P 500 is 17.8 percent from its record, almost a bear market.
- A president furious with the Federal Reserve chairman for raising interest rates amid the equity decline. So frustrated is President Trump that he reportedly has discussed firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Mnuchin sought to quell the firestorm from those reports this weekend.
- A government shutdown that will apparently drag on through at least Thursday.
Read the full statement from the Treasury Department below:
Secretary Mnuchin convened individual calls with the CEOs of the nation’s six largest banks
The banks all confirmed ample liquidity is available for lending to consumer and business markets.
Washington – Secretary Mnuchin conducted a series of calls today with the CEOs of the nations six largest banks: Brian Moynihan, Bank of America; Michael Corbat, Citi; David Solomon, Goldman Sachs; Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan Chase, James Gorman, Morgan Stanley; Tim Sloan, Wells Fargo. The CEOs confirmed that they have ample liquidity available for lending to consumer, business markets, and all other market operations. He also confirmed that they have not experienced any clearance or margin issues and that the markets continue to function properly.
Tomorrow, the Secretary will convene a call with the President’s Working Group on financial markets, which he chairs. This includes the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. He has also invited the office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to participate as well. These key regulators will discuss coordination efforts to assure normal market operations.
“We continue to see strong economic growth in the U.S. economy with robust activity from consumers and business,” stated Secretary Mnuchin and added “With the government shutdown, Treasury will have critical employees to maintain its core operations at Fiscal Services, IRS, and other critical functions within the department.”
—CNBC’s Wilfred Frost contributed to this report.
