FDIC Board Member Norton to Step Down June 5

WASHINGTON — Jeremiah Norton, a board member on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., will be stepping down on June 5, the agency said late Friday.

The former JP Morgan Chase banker and Treasury official has served as an independent director for just over three years. Norton played a significant role in crafting the 2008 government bailout of the largest institutions while he served under former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. When he was tapped to take the position, it was believed he would be an advocate for Wall Street among the five-member FDIC Board. Yet that hasn't proven to be the case. Norton has been allied with FDIC Vice Chairman Tom Hoenig, an outspoken Wall Street critic, and supported capital requirements that the larger institutions opposed.

"Jeremiah has been an extraordinarily effective and influential member of the FDIC Board," FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said. "He has made major contributions to important actions by the FDIC in the wake of the financial crisis."

In his letter of resignation, Norton did not give any specific reasons for stepping down other than it was an "appropriate time" to conclude his service.

It is not clear if or when he will be replaced. By law, the FDIC can only have three members of the same political party serving at the same time. Though it technically has two Democrats, Gruenberg and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray, and two independents, Hoenig and Comptroller Thomas Curry, the latter has been politically aligned with the Democrats. Accordingly, the choice for Norton's successor would traditionally be suggested by Senate Republicans to the White House.

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