WASHINGTON — William S. Haraf, a former California banking commissioner and member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, has joined Promontory Financial Group — again.
Haraf had previously worked as an independent consultant for the firm prior to his four-year stint as California's top banking regulator.
In an interview on Thursday, Haraf said it was natural to return to Promontory.
"Financial institutions face higher levels of risk and uncertainty in the postcrisis world, and they recognize there is work to be done on governance, risk management and controls," he said. "Helping institutions deal with these challenges is what Promontory does best."
Haraf's new role will involve working with banks to address a multitude of issues.
"In terms of my skill sets, they include corporate governance, enterprise risk management, compliance and regulatory advisory," he said.
Haraf is also one of the founding members of FSOC, having served as its state banking representative.
Although some critics have charged the council has not quickly confronted the issues facing the system, Haraf said its work is largely behind the scenes.
"Most of the work the council does is behind closed doors," he said. "That's where the really important collaboration and exchange happens."
He noted the most recent public FSOC meeting last month, in which the other regulators lined up to support Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro's efforts to reform money market mutual funds, saying it provided an outlet for the agencies to pull together on an important issue.
"FSOC is really a startup organization," Haraf said. "Two years in the running, it's made a tremendous amount of progress. I think FSOC is going to demonstrate a long-term value that will be more apparent over time. It brings a number of diverse perspectives to the table about different ways of supporting and properly overseeing financial institutions and financial markets."
Before working at Promontory the first time, Haraf spent nine years as managing director of Banc of America Securities and five years as director of policy analysis for Citicorp.
