But in a Washington where the tone is set by an incoming president who has refused to disclose his tax returns, it is not clear that any ethics question could actually derail a nominee, even ones that have caused problems in the past.
During his prickly hearing, Mr. Mnuchin played down his omissions as innocent errors that were the products of cumbersome government bureaucracy.
"I think as you all can appreciate, filling out these government forms is quite complicated," Mr. Mnuchin said when asked about the omissions, noting that he had handed over 5,000 pages of disclosures. "Let me first say, any oversight, it was unintentional."
Democrats were unsatisfied with the response, assailing Mr. Mnuchin for the lapse and wondering what he was hiding.
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand the words, 'list all positions,'" said Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey.
Past nominees have stepped aside after such revelations. In 2009, Tom Daschle, President Obama's pick for health secretary, withdrew after it emerged that he owed more than $ 100,000 in back taxes on the use of a limousine and chauffeur. Only weeks before, the nomination of Timothy F. Geithner, Mr. Obama's first Treasury secretary, nearly came undone for his failure to pay some payroll taxes while at the International Monetary Fund.
At the dawn of Bill Clinton's presidency, the employment of undocumented immigrant nannies deprived both Kimba Wood and Zoë Baird of the chance to become the first female attorneys general.
But such missteps might not matter these days. Just as Mr. Trump shrugged off the long-established practices of releasing tax returns, divesting assets that could create conflicts of interest and disclosing medical records, his cabinet picks might choose to muscle through.
"If Trump's nominees can't get their ethics disclosures right now, how can we trust them when they are in office?" asked Norman Eisen, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who advised the Obama administration on government ethics.
It appears that ethics concerns will continue to swirl around the Trump administration. Three Democratic senators on Thursday sent a letter to Mr. Mnuchin about reports that Anthony Scaramucci, a wealthy financier whom Mr. Trump appointed to be White House director of engagement and intergovernmental affairs, was holding talks with the head of the sanctioned Russian investment fund at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. The Russian fund has been under Treasury Department sanctions since 2015.
"This raises questions about whether Mr. Scaramucci engaged in discussions to facilitate prohibited transactions with the sanctioned entity in violation of federal law, and about whether other Trump administration transition officials were aware of or approved his activities," they wrote, calling on Mr. Mnuchin to investigate the matter if he is confirmed.
Mr. Mnuchin did not shy away from controversies surrounding his business record, forcefully defending his use of offshore tax havens as a hedge fund manager and rejecting accusations that he was churning out foreclosures when he was chief executive of One West Bank during the financial crisis.
This week progressive groups launched television advertisements painting him as a cruel predatory lender, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, hosted a "shadow hearing" featuring people who felt victimized by the bank.
But Mr. Mnuchin went on the offensive, dismissing such accusations in his opening statement.
"Since I was first nominated to serve as Treasury secretary, I have been maligned as taking advantage of others' hardships in order to earn a buck," Mr. Mnuchin said. "Nothing could be further from the truth."
Mr. Mnuchin spent a good part of the five-hour hearing fending off charges that One West had been overly aggressive in foreclosing on tens of thousands of borrowers, many of them elderly. Mr. Mnuchin said the remnants of IndyMac, which he and a group of wealthy investors bought from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, was sitting on a mountain of troubled mortgages. He said the bank did its best to try to modify loans and keep borrowers in their homes but conceded that OneWest had made mistakes, such as foreclosing on some military families.
Mr. Mnuchin expressed remorse for not being able to help more homeowners who struggled during the collapse of the housing market, especially one, a minor celebrity.
"The most troubling loan we had was actually to the Octomom," Mr. Mnuchin said, referring to a woman who gave birth to octuplets and became a reality television star. "That was a terrible situation, and we worked very, very hard to move her to another home that they could afford."
To many Democrats, the actions of One West during the housing and financial crisis were too much. Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, announced his opposition to Mr. Mnuchin hours after the hearing ended.
"Mr. Mnuchin's cozy ties to Wall Street raise serious red flags that demand serious answers," Mr. Brown said in a statement.
When Mr. Mnuchin was pressed on whether he was helping rich clients avoid paying taxes by setting up shop in the Cayman Islands, he insisted that he had paid all the taxes that he owed and that he was following the law.
"I did not use a Cayman Islands entity in any way to avoid paying taxes for myself," Mr. Mnuchin said. "I would love to work with the I.R.S. to close these tax issues that make no sense."
That did not go over well with Democrats.
"One does not go and create offshore entities at the end of the day other than to avoid, in some form or fashion, the tax laws of the United States. That's pretty simple," Mr. Menendez said.
Although Republicans have been sticklers about ethics when out of power, they showed little concern about Mr. Mnuchin's failure to make disclosures. The Finance Committee in particular has prided itself on its bipartisanship when it comes to the rigorous vetting of nominees, but on Thursday, that was hardly in evidence.
Republican senators praised Mr. Mnuchin's credentials, showed appreciation for his willingness to sacrifice his business career and apologized for the length and tone of the hearing.
"Objectively speaking, I don't believe anyone can reasonably argue that Mr. Mnuchin is unqualified for the position," said Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah.
"You've been assaulted by innuendo," Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, told Mr. Mnuchin.
The only time Mr. Mnuchin appeared to be at a loss for words was when he was peppered with questions about the ethics of Mr. Trump.
Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, grilled Mr. Mnuchin about how Americans could be sure that debt the Trump Organization owed to foreign interests would not influence Mr. Trump's policies. She also mocked the idea that the president-elect was appointing an independent ethics officer to ensure he would have nothing to do with his business empire, asking Mr. Mnuchin what authority a person that Mr. Trump could hire and fire would have to keep him honest.
"It's a good question," Mr. Mnuchin said.
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