WASHINGTON - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has named John W. Stone executive director of banking supervision and resolution.
He replaces Paul G. Fritts, who is retiring Friday after 34 years at the agency.
Mr. Stone, 50, joined the FDIC in 1965. He has been acting Chairman Andrew C. Hove's deputy since last November.
Most of his career has been spent in the agency's supervision division, which he headed for 18 months earlier in this decade.
Roger A. Hood, deputy to the vice chairman, will take over Mr. Stone's job.
Mr. Hood has been with the FDIC since 1959 and was Mr. Hove's deputy when the latter served as vice chairman before then-chairman William Taylor died in August 1992.
Post Created in 1991
The position of executive director was created in March 1991 when the supervision division was split in two and a resolutions division was created to handle an unprecedented number of bank failures. The executive director oversees both divisions.
At one time, it was uncertain whether Mr Fritts would be replaced when he retired, because banks are no longer failing at a record pace.
Mr. Stone said the position is still needed to bind the two divisions together.
"We don't want to create an us-them mentality," he said.
Mr. Stone said he plans to follow in Mr. Fritts' footsteps.
"Paul and I had very very few differences of opinion," he said.
Mr. Fritts, 55, began at the FDIC in 1959 as an assistant examiner in the agency's Kansas City office.
After rising through the ranks, Mr. Fritts was named regional director in charge of the FDIC's Chicago office in 1983.
Essay Contest
In 1986, then-Chairman L. William Seidman held an essay contest to pick his new director of supervision, requiring each entrant to outline a plan of action.
Mr. Fritts won and was brought to Washington, where he developed a reputation as a conservative, no-nonsense regulator.
He plans to move back home to southern Illinois.
