(Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City said it’s normal for its staff to communicate with directors of companies seeking access to the central bank’s payment system, after President Joe Biden’s nominee to be Fed vice chair for supervision came under fire from Republican lawmakers for her interactions with the regional institution.

“It is routine for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City to communicate on an ongoing basis with a requesting organization, its management (including directors), public officials and any relevant federal or state regulatory counterparts,” the bank said in a statement on its website Monday.

During her confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee last week, Raskin faced questions from Cynthia Lummis, a Wyoming Republican, about communicating with the Kansas City Fed regarding a Colorado-based fintech firm called Reserve Trust that received a master account -- which allows access to the central bank’s payment system -- while she was a director of that firm. Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, the Senate Banking Committee’s top Republican, made similar allegations in a set of questions for the nominee.

Raskin responded at the hearing by saying that “I want to make very clear that I have, first of all, had the honor to serve in various public capacities and each time I left I have been very mindful of the rules regarding departure.”

A White House spokesman said last week that Raskin had complied with ethics requirements, and that the GOP line of questions was innuendo and not backed up by facts.

The Kansas City Fed said Monday it had approved Reserve Trust’s request in 2018 -- after initially rejecting it in 2017 -- in part because the company “changed its business model” and Colorado regulators “reinterpreted the state’s law” in a way that meant the company “met the definition of a depository institution.”

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