New leadership ahead for FDIC
(Jan. 7, 2022) The leadership of the FDIC will be changing next month following the surprise resignation New Year’s Eve by board Chairman Jelena McWilliams. In a letter to President Joe Biden (D), McWilliams said her resignation would be effective Feb. 4.
In her letter, McWilliams gave no indication why she was resigning now, three-and-a-half years into her five-year term (she was nominated by President Donald Trump (R ) in December 2017 and confirmed by the Senate in late May 2018). She did note that it has been a “a tremendous honor to serve this nation,” and that she “did not take a single day for granted” during her service.
McWilliams’ resignation will leave the FDIC Board with only one appointed member, holdover board member (and former chairman) Martin Gruenberg, a Democratic appointee. His own five-year term on the board expired in December 2018; he has been serving in the absence of a successor being confirmed by the Senate. Neither Biden, nor Trump before him, nominated a successor.
The other appointed seat on the board, that of vice chairman, has been vacant since April 2018. It was filled by Thomas Hoenig, whose term expired; he had served since November 2012.
The other seats on the five-person board are held, by statute, by the leaders of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Chairman Rohit Chopra, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Acting Comptroller Michael Hsu. Both are Democratic appointees.
So far, the White House has given no indication who it will name as McWilliams’ successor.
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