Congressional Black Caucus members back Baradaran for OCC job

WASHINGTON — Thirty-four members of the Congressional Black Caucus are urging the Biden administration to tap Mehrsa Baradaran for comptroller of the currency, further escalating the already pitched fight over who will lead the national bank regulator.

In a one-page letter to President Biden dated March 25, the lawmakers stressed the importance of closing the racial wealth gap and the expertise that Baradaran — a professor at the University of California, Irvine, and former banking lawyer — would bring to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

“Given the critical role that this office plays in creating and enacting policies to bridge the racial wealth gap and address the persistent issue of wealth inequality, it is clear that Ms. Baradaran is the best choice for this role,” the letter said. “Baradaran is a brilliant scholar and consumer advocate who has devoted her career to understanding and narrowing the racial wealth gap.”

Five Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee were among those who signed the letter: Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, Rep. Alma Adams of North Carolina, Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York and Rep. Nikema Williams of Georgia.

The letter is the latest salvo in an unusually intense fight over the next leader of the OCC, which supervises institutions holding roughly 70% of the banking system's assets.

Baradaran was said to be the frontrunner among just a handful of candidates earlier this month, while American Banker reported this week that three additional names were under consideration: Kara Stein, a former member of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Sarah Bloom Raskin, formerly a Federal Reserve Board governor and deputy secretary of the Treasury; and Raphael Bostic, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

The letter praised Baradaran for “innovative policies” she has supported in recent years, including the 21st Century Homestead Act and postal banking. It also knocked, but did not name, some of her rivals for having ties to financial technology firms.

An earlier front-runner for the job, Michael Barr, has been criticized by some progressives for consulting with fintech companies after leaving the Obama administration. Another contender, Manny Alvarez of California, previously served as general counsel of Affirm, a fintech lender.

“Other proposed candidates for the OCC do not have the same track record as Mehrsa on these issues, and in fact, they have ties to internet-savvy lenders which have exploited vulnerable consumers,” the letter said. “They may be qualified for the job, but what we need is an expert whose worldview is suited for this momentum and who is prepared to aggressively undo the harms of the past.”

“Appointing her as Comptroller of the Currency would be, in short, transformative,” the letter said.

The Biden administration has not formally announced whom it will nominate to lead the OCC.