The White House aims to nominate Donna A. Tanoue as chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. by the end of the month, according to Clinton administration sources.
Ms. Tanoue, however, is unlikely to be confirmed by the Senate this year, because Congress plans to adjourn Nov. 7.
At best, assuming a smooth confirmation, she probably will not get the Senate's blessing until March, Washington insiders said. If that's the case, Ms. Tanoue will only be chairman for 19 months. She was nominated to complete Ricki Helfer's five-year term, ending in October 1999. Ms. Helfer resigned in June.
Ms. Tanoue, a banking lawyer in Honolulu and Hawaii's former commissioner of financial institutions, has been the White House favorite since early September.
If Ms. Tanoue gets confirmed, she might want to investigate whether FDIC employees are reading too much on the job.
According to the General Accounting Office, the FDIC bought 399subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal in fiscal 1996-the most of 43 federal agencies surveyed.
In comparison, the Treasury Department has 285 subscriptions to the JournaL, the Federal Reserve Board 104.
"It is part of our daily business here to be aware of what's going on in the industry and the economy," an FDIC spokesman said. He added that the FDIC ranked 14th in total agency spending on subscriptions at $936,500.
However, the FDIC has made an effort to cut back-trimming Journal subscriptions 14% and American Banker subscriptions more than 10% this year, he said.
Among the financial regulators, the Treasury Department spent the most on subscriptions at $6.1 million, followed by the Securities and Exchange Commission at $1.5 million.
A portrait of Rep. Henry Gonzalez will be hung Oct. 30 in the House Banking Committee's hearing room in the Rayburn Building.
The 81-year-old Texas lawmaker, who was chairman of the committee from 1989 until 1994, retires from Congress in December. The Banking Committee's ranking Democrat, he has served on the panel since coming to Congress in 1962.
As chairman, Rep. Gonzalez led congressional efforts to bail out the savings and loan industry.
The portrait, painted by Texas artist Jesse Trevino, was unveiled Oct. 15 in San Antonio. Rep. Gonzalez's friends paid for it.
Following Rep. Gonzalez into retirement is longtime aide Kelsay R. Meek, who will step down Nov. 15.
Mr. Meek, 57, is the Banking Committee's Democratic staff director and has worked on Capitol Hill since Rep. Gonzalez was elected.
The ABA Insurance Assocation named its first leader Friday.
Dennis Koso, president and chief executive of Chase Insurance Agency, will head the new American Bankers Association subsidiary.
The group was created to put more muscle behind the ABA's efforts to expand bank insurance powers. Its board has 12 other bankers including Dean A. Purvis, president of NationsBank Insurance Co., and David Holton, president of Wachovia Corp.'s insurance division.
A suspicious package was delivered to the Treasury Department building Friday, prompting an evacuation.
Agents from the Secret Service; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms; and Federal Bureau of Investigation closed nearby streets. They set up a command post less than a hundred yards from branches of NationsBank, Riggs Bank, and Crestar Bank.
Community reinvestment is apparently of increasing interest to Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan. He meets today with Rev. Charles R. Stith, national president of the Organization for a New Equality, to discuss the activist group's recently released report accusing banks of withholding credit to minority-owned small businesses. In a speech this month to the Greenlining Institute, Mr. Greenspan warned against slack underwriting of community development loans.
The Office of Thrift Supervision has named Charles A. Deardorf director of its western region. Mr. Deardorf has been acting director since June,when John F. Robinson left to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's western district.
Back in Washington, OTS tapped William J. Durbin as director of supervision technology.
In the newly created position, Mr. Durbin, previously the agency's head of information resources management, will oversee technological improvements to thrift supervision and the agency's new electronic exam system.
