The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced Wednesday that a senior official in its bank-failure division will lead a new section on systemically important financial firms.
Jim Wigand, who has overseen negotiations with failed-bank buyers during the crisis, will become the director of the agency's new Office of Complex Financial Institutions. The office will carry out the FDIC's new authority — granted by the Dodd-Frank Act — to seize and resolve failed nonbanks that could pose risks to the system.
The CFI will also lead the agency's efforts to monitor large firms, and coordinate with the Federal Reserve Board on developing standards for large-firm resolution plans known as "living wills."
Since 1997, Wigand has been a deputy director in the FDIC's division of resolutions and receiverships, focusing on franchise and asset marketing for closed banks. In this capacity, he has completed deals for over 300 failed institutions and over $600 billion of assets.
In a press release, FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said Wigand "is well qualified to lead the FDIC in its important charge from Congress to implement new resolution authority and end too big to fail."
Pamela Farwig, now an associate director in DRR for franchise and asset marketing, will succeed Wigand as deputy director.
