Washington People: Bigger Bank Panel Leaves Chairman with Full House

House leaders decided last week to add an additional Republican and Democratic member to the Banking Committee.

Republicans have tapped Rep. Vito Fossella, the former New York City Council member who just won the seat vacated by Susan Molinari. "I will work to ensure that the banking and financial services industry operates with stability and fairness to protect the safety of our bank accounts and credit, while supporting legislation to spur economic growth," he said in a prepared statement.

The Democrats will not select their new member until after the winter recess.

The two additions bring House Banking's ranks to 60 members, an amount that appeared on Thursday to be a bit overwhelming to committee Chairman Jim Leach. At a hearing on Southeast Asia's currency crises, the Iowa Republican first said Rep. Fossella was from Long Island, rather than Staten Island. Then he thanked Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy 2d for an opening statement made by Rep. Barney Frank, both Massachusetts Democrats. "At the end of the session there was a lot going on," a spokesman said. "That is all I can tell you."

Bill Lan Lee's bid to become the nation's civil rights chief is in limbo. Republican efforts to defeat the nomination failed Thursday after Judiciary Committee Democrats used parliamentary maneuvers to prevent the panel from voting.

President Clinton now must decide whether he will renominate Mr. Lee or select a new candidate.

As assistant attorney general for civil rights, Mr. Lee would oversee all fair-lending investigations. He would succeed Deval Patrick, who left the Justice Department in January to join the Boston office of the Day, Berry & Howard law firm.

Ellen S. Seidman, the new director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, started with a bang at her first Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board meeting last week.

She peppered FDIC experts on the bank and thrift insurance funds with questions about the purpose of contingency reserves, the increasing amount of expenses being charged to the funds, and investment practices.

After recommending that the agency research whether average premium goals and the required reserve ratios for the funds were appropriate, she challenged the FDIC's conventional wisdom on these matters.

"I am not really sure that just historic experience is the way to look at this," she said.

And when a staff member told another board member about a Senate proposal to provide a refund from the bank fund, Ms. Seidman quickly pointed out that lawmakers had dropped that provision from their bill.

Leo Melamed, former chairman of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, recently treated a Brookings Institution audience to a rare glimpse of how regulators cajole financial firms behind the scenes.

Mr. Melamed recounted spending the entire night after "Black Monday" in October 1987 at his clearing house to make sure the exchange could open Tuesday morning.

A "big Wall Street name" was slow in paying $1 billion in settlements, so Mr. Melamed called the institution's chairman in the wee hours of the morning.

"He said, 'Who the hell are you?'"

"We said, 'Well, we are the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and you owe us $1 billion, sir.' Can you imagine waking up to a telephone call at 2 in the morning ... and somebody is telling you you owe them a billion bucks?"

The chairman threatened to hang up.

"I said, 'Don't do that because the next voice you'll hear is Alan Greenspan's.'"

The money came in, and the exchange opened on time.

The FDIC promoted Gregory P. Bottone to assistant regional director in Boston last week.

Mr. Bottone, 38, took a newly created post in charge of supervising financial institutions in Maine and New Hampshire. He began his FDIC career in 1986 as an assistant examiner in Concord, N.H., and most recently served as a case manager in Boston.

Citicorp senior vice president Pamela P. Flaherty has become chairman of the Consumer Bankers Association. She succeeds Richard Hartnack, vice chairman of Union Bank of California. Craig Kelly, group executive vice president at Crestar Financial Group, was selected chairman-elect of the trade group.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER