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The Senate Banking Committee approved the nominations of two Federal Reserve governors, as well as a JPMorgan Chase executive as an independent FDIC director.
March 29
WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s two newest board members are expected to begin work at the agency on Monday, an agency spokesman said.
Former Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City chief Thomas Hoenig and Jeremiah Norton, who had stints at the Treasury Department and JPMorgan Chase & Co., will be sworn in for their terms on the five-person FDIC board in a private ceremony.
Despite being nominated by the Obama administration, Hoenig and Norton were recommended by GOP lawmakers under rules limiting the amount of FDIC board members from the president's party to three.
With their additions, the board will be at its full, five-member capacity for the first time since July 2011, when former FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair stepped down and the Office of Thrift Supervision — whose director held an FDIC board spot — was eliminated by statute.
Yet the FDIC's leadership structure is still not entirely resolved. Last month, the Senate confirmed Hoenig and Norton to terms on the board, and also extended the board term for Martin Gruenberg, who now serves as acting chairman. But lawmakers held off voting on President Obama's nominations for Gruenberg to become chairman outright, and for Hoenig to become vice chairman.
The first board meeting with all five members is expected to take place as early as this month.
The other board seats are filled by Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray. Curry, who formerly held an undesignated position on the FDIC board, was confirmed as comptroller late last month. Cordray became CFPB director in January through a recess appointment that expires at the end of 2013.
