The Trump administration is considering nominating Fifth Third Bancorp's top lawyer to lead a key banking regulator, people familiar with the matter said.
Jelena McWilliams has had several meetings in recent weeks with administration officials about running the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the people said. Though she hasn't been formally offered the position, she is a leading candidate, they added.
The White House has been scrambling to fill the FDIC job since its original nominee, James Clinger, withdrew earlier this month. Clinger's decision was a setback for President Donald Trump, who needs his own regulators in place to make significant changes to the financial rules he blames for hurting the economy. The FDIC, which polices lenders and protects customer deposits, is one of the main overseers of the U.S. banking industry and will have an important role in dismantling regulations.
McWilliams is a former chief counsel for Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee and also worked at the Federal Reserve. She was hired as Fifth Third's chief legal officer in January after her predecessor was let go because she had a romantic relationship with the head of Fannie Mae.
McWilliams's brief tenure at Fifth Third could be a sticking point for her, the people said, noting that she might be reluctant to leave the the Cincinnati-based bank so soon.
"We do not comment on personnel or speculation," Fifth Third spokesman Sean Parker wrote in an email. White House spokeswoman Natalie Strom didn't respond to a request for comment.
The FDIC is one of the three federal regulators of banks, supervising many smaller institutions. It also maintains an insurance fund that protects bank deposits up to $250,000.
The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act boosted the agency's prominence significantly after the financial crisis, giving it authority over an intensive "living wills" process in which banks must submit credible plans for getting safely through a bankruptcy. The law also gave the FDIC power to seize and wind down failing financial firms.
The agency is one of five regulators responsible for enforcing the Volcker Rule, which restricts banks from trading with their own capital. Volcker is already under fire from the Trump administration.
The president's FDIC pick, once confirmed by the Senate, will replace Martin Gruenberg, who has spent years implementing Dodd-Frank. Gruenberg's term expires in November.
The FDIC chairman leads a five-member board of directors, which includes the heads of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
