WASHINGTON — As the five members of the FDIC board took their seats Wednesday, the elephant in the room was where they would be sitting next time.
It was Chairman Sheila Bair's last day with the gavel as she prepares to depart the agency Friday. But every other member will also likely watch or participate in future board deliberations from a different vantage.
The transformation will go something like this. Be warned: this gets a little complicated.
To Bair's right was FDIC vice chairman Martin Gruenberg, but he is the nominee to assume Bair's job.
To her left was Tom Curry, whose sole job now is serving on the board. Curry will retain a seat but as the nominee to succeed acting Comptroller of the Currency John Walsh — who sits to the right of Gruenberg — he is due for a promotion and seat change.
Meanwhile, John Bowman, acting director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, will be off the board after his agency ceases to exist later this month. (Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will take the OTS seat, once, of course, there is a CFPB director.)
All of this was in the background for most of Wednesday's meeting, but toward the end the regulators — normally somewhat staid in formal discussions — offered personal touches in acknowledging their transition.
Said Walsh, "Since everyone on this dais is going to be changing jobs, … I wish them well as they move to other jobs, including mine."
Their colleagues recognized both Bair and Bowman for their service.
Gruenberg called Bair's stewardship of the FDIC "truly transformative," saying the agency became a "more dynamic and proactive organization" under her watch.
Curry concurred, saying Bair was "right leader at the right time for the agency and the nation's financial stability."
Walsh, whose agency is at times in conflict with the FDIC over policy, complimented Bair for her work even if the two regulators did not always see eye to eye.
"The chairman has been a dedicated campaigner for the things that she believes are right, and equally formidable when you didn't agree with her on something," he said. "She has accomplished a great deal and leaves a legacy of which she and the FDIC can be greatly proud.
"As your FDIC lifetime comes to a close, here's hoping that the unfinished work that you've left behind - that we all at some point leave behind - will be completed successfully by those who follow," Walsh continued. "Our goal in doing that should be to fulfill the vision that you have set for a safe and sound banking system to underpin a stronger and safer economy."
Bair said despite those occasions when the board disagreed, she has strived for consensus.
"I've always enjoyed working with the board. I take a lot of pride in the fact that … I think less than 0.01% of our board votes were not unanimous. We work hard at that," she said.
Praise also came for Bowman, whom colleagues said took on an unenviable job at a time when it was clear his agency's days were numbered.
Bair credited Bowman for keeping OTS staff focused on their mission despite the regulatory upheaval.
"They never lost their purpose or energy and that's due to your leadership," she said.
Gruenberg said the task of steering OTS "is not one that is easy or necessarily attracts a lot of accolades."
"You didn't have to do it. … But you chose to. That's a tribute to you," he said.
Bowman said as the OTS has gone through the difficult process of winding itself down, participating in the policy debates on the FDIC board "has been fun."
"There were times when things were going in a particular direction at the OTS where this really was a safe haven," he said.
He said the job was not necessarily his choice.
"From the very start, … when [Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner] asked me to be — actually told me I was going to be — the acting director of OTS, the goals that we set for the agency" included "that we were going to continue to do our job because of the industry and what was going on," he said. "Staff really has risen to that challenge."
