OCC Chief of Staff Is Calm Amid the Storm

As the comptroller of the currency's chief of staff, Matthew D. Roberts has to deal with angry lawmakers.

He's plenty busy.

Comptroller Eugene A. Ludwig is a favorite target of both Alfonse M. D'Amato, R-N.Y., and Jim Leach, R-Iowa, chairmen of the Senate and House Banking committees, respectively.

The phrase "rogue regulator" is often thrown out on Capitol Hill to describe Mr. Ludwig, who in his four-plus years as comptroller has steadily expanded the powers of national banks.

Lawmakers, Mr. Roberts says, attack Mr. Ludwig out of frustration.

"It can be frustrating that the regulators are moving ahead while Congress is having a difficult time getting legislation passed," he says. "Both Congress and the OCC are trying to achieve the same thing here: to ensure that the industry is able to keep pace with changes in the marketplace so it can serve the American economy."

It's that sort of low-key approach that wins over even his adversaries.

When House Banking was preparing to vote on financial reform legislation in June, Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., drafted an amendment that would require all bank securities activities to be conducted through a holding company affiliate-a move the Comptroller's Office opposed.

Mr. Roberts called Rep. McCollum's office to request a meeting.

"Rather than sit down and fire off a set of talking points at us, he listened to us and responded," says Doyle Bartlett, Rep. McCollum's chief of staff. "He really knows his substance."

The committee rejected the amendment, a rare congressional victory for the Comptroller's Office this year.

"Matt is a remarkable strategist and a very straight shooter, but we just don't agree with the way the OCC is doing ad hoc regulatory reform," says a Republican aide at House Banking.

And if House Banking is a hard sell, Mr. Roberts had better brace himself.

When the House Commerce Committee votes on the reform bill next month, it is expected to gut the agency's authority to grant national banks new powers. That's because the insurance industry, which has many allies on Commerce, is furious that the comptroller has gradually but significantly eased bank entry into their business.

"The insurance provisions in the bill are our biggest concern," Mr. Roberts says. "We do our best to try to explain what we do and put it in perspective and make people understand, but are we concerned about what might happen in the committee? Yes."

Mr. Roberts says the Comptroller's Office could use a little help from the industry.

"It would be useful if banks had a better appreciation of the fact that the decisions made here can really have a big impact on their bottom line," he says. "Other folks have a keener sense than many in banking of the impact that actions in Washington can have."

Mr. Roberts, 35, came to Washington after graduating from Harvard in 1984 with a degree in social studies. He admits to being a bit of an idealist, moving here to "make the world a better place."

After a year answering constituent mail for Rep. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Mr. Roberts realized that "everybody in Washington who did anything in politics was a lawyer."

So, he returned to Cambridge. Three years later Mr. Roberts graduated first in his class from Harvard Law School. He clerked for Supreme Court Justice John P. Stevens and for Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who at the time was with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Mr. Roberts says he misses poring over legal texts and crafting legal arguments. "I find it soothing and stimulating to be surrounded by a pile of books and typing away," he says. "I don't really get to roll up my sleeves and dig into the subject matter like that now."

Still, most sources said he is well suited for the chief of staff job, which - besides congressional relations - includes formulating the agency's position on issues, coordinating actions with the Treasury Department, and maintaining contact with industry trade groups.

"As chief of staff, you are right in the center of the storm and swirling around you are lawmakers, their staff, all the different trade groups, Treasury, the White House, and all the folks inside the OCC," says Konrad Alt, Mr. Roberts' predecessor.

"You can't spend 20 minutes with Matt without picking up that he's not only fun to be with but very sharp," says Mr. Alt, who is now a senior vice president at World Savings and Loan Association in Oakland, Calif. "His intelligence and good nature make him stand out."

Returning to Capitol Hill, Mr. Roberts spent 1992 and 1993 at the Senate Banking Committee as counsel on community development and consumer banking issues.

His boss, Steve Harris, the committee's Democratic staff director and general counsel, says Mr. Roberts was one of the few people he knew on the Hill who was extremely intelligent without being egotistical.

"I can't say enough good things about him," Mr. Harris says. "He combines all the attributes of intelligence, integrity, and honesty."

In November 1993 he was hired as Mr. Ludwig's special counsel. Seven months later, Mr. Roberts was promoted to lead a new community and consumer law division in which he rewrote the Community Reinvestment Act rules with Stephen M. Cross. After just three years with the agency, he was promoted to his current position in September 1996.

One of his first accomplishments: getting the eight members of the agency's executive committee to show up on time for their Monday morning meetings.

"Folks used to trickle in at quarter after nine sometimes, but then Matt came on and said, 'I owe it to you all to be on time,'" says OCC Ombudsman Samuel Golden. "What he was really saying was, 'You suckers better be here, too.' He has a way of pushing you without you feeling pushed."

Leading a staff of 3,000, which includes veterans with 20 and 30 years' tenure, was a little intimidating at first, he admits, but he has found his inexperience at the agency useful.

"I can contribute as someone who has limited knowledge about something; I can ask, 'Would a banker understand this? Does something seem out of whack?'" he says.

Mr. Roberts counts the OCC's operating-subsidiary rule among his major accomplishments. The rule-controversial when it was proposed in 1994-allows national bank subsidiaries to enter businesses banned for the parent.

Mr. Roberts ensured that lawmakers, industry groups, and consumer groups were briefed before Mr. Ludwig announced the final rule in late 1996. It worked.

After it was issued, Rep. Leach, who originally slammed the plan, praised it as "a step toward common-sense bank modernization."

"For a rule that we knew was going to be controversial, it went surprisingly well," Mr. Roberts says. "People felt like they got the information they needed and weren't blindsided by the announcement."

"Matt's job is simply a tough job to do," says Mr. Ludwig. "The secret- and we've tried to do this-is to be professional, to present things in an accurate, timely fashion. Matt and his team have done that."

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