A Democratic banking regulator, Martin J. Gruenberg, took over as head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation after a partisan fig...
A Democratic banking regulator, Martin J. Gruenberg, took over as head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation after a partisan fight prompted his Republican predecessor to resign.
Mr. Gruenberg became acting FDIC chairman on Saturday after Jelena McWilliams, who was appointed chairman by President Donald J. Trump, resigned a day earlier.
In one declaration Setting the policy direction for the year ahead, Mr Gruenberg said regulators should conduct a review of bank mergers – the issue that prompted Ms McWilliams’ exit. The FDIC is primarily known for supporting consumer deposits, but is involved in the supervision of all banks in the country.
“The primary mission of the FDIC is to maintain stability and public confidence in the U.S. financial system,” Mr. Gruenberg wrote. To this end, he said his main priorities would be to: review the process of bank mergers, revise the law on community reinvestment, address the financial risks posed by climate change, provide advice to banks on the management cryptocurrency assets and finalize capital rules for banks that were put in place after the 2008 financial crisis.
In December, three Democratic members of the regulator’s board — Mr. Gruenberg, a longtime member; Rohit Chopra, the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; and Michael J. Hsu, the acting Comptroller of the Currency, voted by email to seek public comment on the bank merger issue. Ms McWilliams blocked those efforts, accusing other council members of trying a “hostile takeover” take control away from the head of an agency.
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