Trump to Nominate Jelena McWilliams as FDIC Chief -- Update
November 30 2017 - 8:22PM
Dow Jones News
By Ryan Tracy and Nick Timiraos
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump will nominate regional bank
executive Jelena McWilliams to lead the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corp., the White House said Thursday.
Ms. McWilliams has worked as a lawyer at the Federal Reserve and
on the Republican staff of the Senate Banking Committee. She is
currently chief legal officer of Cincinnati-based Fifth Third
Bancorp.
The nomination moves Mr. Trump closer to rounding out a team
that can carry out his promise to revisit financial regulations
adopted under President Barack Obama.
The FDIC shares oversight of the U.S. banking system with
several other agencies, including the Office of the Comptroller of
the Currency and the Federal Reserve.
Just this week, Mr. Trump's nominee to lead the OCC took control
of the agency, his pick to lead the Fed got a positive reception at
a confirmation hearing, and he installed an acting chief of the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The FDIC is currently led by an Obama nominee, Martin Gruenberg,
who has pushed for strict rules on large Wall Street banks and
warned against deregulation in a Nov. 14 speech. Mr. Gruenberg's
term as chairman ended Nov. 29. He can continue serving until a
successor is in place, and has said he intends to do so.
The FDIC is tasked with preventing bank runs by insuring
deposits and managing bank failures. It also supervises thousands
of community banks and, along with the Fed, reviews whether the
largest U.S. banks have credible "living wills" showing how they
could go through bankruptcy without needing a taxpayer bailout.
The FDIC is also an important agency because banking regulators
typically write rules jointly. Mr. Trump's team will need FDIC
signoff to make far-reaching changes to regulations such as the
Volcker rule, which bans banks from making wagers with their own
money, or bank capital rules.
Ms. McWilliams's personal views on financial regulation aren't
well known. She has spent less time in the public spotlight than
Mr. Trump's other financial regulatory nominees.
The White House said Ms. McWilliams has political science and
law degrees from the University of California at Berkeley, and
practiced corporate and securities law before entering public
service in 2007, serving three years at the Fed and then six years
in the Senate.
At the Senate banking panel, she worked for Sens. Richard Shelby
(R., Ala.) and Mike Crapo (R., Idaho), both of whom are skeptical
of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial-overhaul law and the resulting
rules implemented under the Obama administration.
She helped craft a 2015 proposal from Mr. Shelby that would have
revamped aspects of Dodd-Frank, including raising the $50 billion
asset threshold at which big banks are subject to stricter
oversight.
The White House earlier nominated longtime congressional staffer
James Clinger as FDIC chairman, but he withdrew this summer, citing
family obligations. Ms. McWilliams's candidacy for the job had been
previously reported.
Write to Ryan Tracy at ryan.tracy@wsj.com and Nick Timiraos at
nick.timiraos@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 30, 2017 20:07 ET (01:07 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024