Trump Set To Nominate Otting for Comptroller -- WSJ
June 06 2017 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Ryan Tracy
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump will nominate Joseph Otting
to a post overseeing federally chartered banks, a move that would
place a former banker in a key role as the Trump team reviews
financial regulatory policies.
The White House announced late Monday it intends to nominate Mr.
Otting to be comptroller of the currency. The Senate will have to
confirm him, a process that could take months. He had previously
been reported as a candidate for the job and would replace Keith
Noreika, the acting comptroller. The Trump administration installed
Mr. Noreika about a month ago to replace former President Barack
Obama's comptroller.
Not much is known about Mr. Otting's regulatory views. But he is
expected to adopt a similar tone to other Trump administration
officials, who have called for a review of banking rules they say
went too far under Mr. Obama and are curbing legitimate
lending.
The comptroller oversees most of the largest federally chartered
U.S. banks, including Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. The position marshals a force of
hundreds of examiners stationed inside big banks, giving the
comptroller significant sway over the regulatory tone that
supervisors take with financial firms.
During the Obama administration, the comptroller's office took
an aggressive tone with bankers at times, criticizing them for
loans that officials viewed as excessively risky. While the OCC's
examiners are unlikely to change their posture overnight, a new
comptroller could, over time, give them different marching
orders.
Mr. Otting has worked in banking for decades. He began his
career at Bank of America. At Union Bank NA in the 1990s, he was in
charge of lending to medium-size companies. He later moved to U.S.
Bancorp., where he helped build a middle-market business and
oversaw an expansion of the lender's presence in California.
In 2010, he was hired as chief executive of OneWest, now owned
by CIT Group. He was a lieutenant of Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin, who was chairman of OneWest. Among Mr. Otting's tasks was
convincing regulators and community groups that the merger with CIT
should proceed.
OneWest was accused of abusing homeowners during the foreclosure
process, a charge the bank disputed. Mr. Mnuchin faced questions
about those issues during his confirmation hearing earlier this
year, but the Senate confirmed him by a 53-47 vote.
The White House said Mr. Otting most recently served as managing
partner of Ocean Blvd LLC and Lake Blvd LLC, earned a bachelor's
degree from the University of Northern Iowa and graduated from the
School of Credit and Financial Management at Dartmouth College.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 06, 2017 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
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