WASHINGTON — More than a dozen House members are calling on the White House to nominate someone to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board with state bank supervisory experience.
The lawmakers, led by Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., told senior administration officials in a letter that the current makeup of the FDIC board violates a federal statute that one of the board's three inside members must have experience in a state government role supervising banks.
The House members — all Republicans except for Reps. Jim Himes, D-Conn., and Denny Heck, D-Wash. — said state banking regulators have “significant responsibilities” in the country’s dual banking regulatory structure, implementing and enforcing state banking laws.
“We believe it is imperative that the federal bank regulatory agencies, including the FDIC, work closely with their state counterparts on bank supervision, because financial regulation is most effective when the multiple layers of supervision are well coordinated,” they said in a Jan. 30 letter to acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and Office of Presidential Personnel Director Sean Doocey.
The letter added that having an FDIC board member with state bank supervisory experience is “an important part of that coordination.”
The inside members now are Chairman Jelena McWilliams and Martin Gruenberg, a Democrat who formerly chaired the agency and now holds a board seat. The third inside director's seat is vacant.
Gruenberg has been rumored to be under consideration by the White House for reappointment to his board seat. Traditionally, two of the five FDIC board members are nominated from the party other than the president's. One of the inside FDIC board members serves as vice chairman.
The lawmakers' letter expressed concern that the potential candidates for the board vacancies do not have state bank supervisory experience.
"While we certainly acknowledge that these individuals have expertise in federal banking regulation and are capable of serving in these roles, we are concerned that there still would not be an independent director with state bank regulatory experience on the FDIC Board as required by law," they said.
The other two FDIC board seats are filled by Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger.
