Biden reportedly named Wall Street and Crypto Critic as lead banking regulator

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US President Joe Biden talks about Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images

The Biden administration intends to appoint Wall Street and cryptocurrency voice critic Saule Omarova as the primary supervisor of banking regulation, Bloomberg reported.

President Joe Biden is expected to choose Omarova to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which oversees around 1,200 federal banks and savings associations, as of this week, sources told the news agency.

Omarova, originally from Kazakhstan, currently teaches law at Cornell University Law School. In her academic work, she argued for policies that would tighten banking regulation at all levels and give government a greater role in overseeing the financial system, such as restructuring the Federal Reserve. She also argued that the central bank should provide bank accounts to consumers.

The law professor also expressed skepticism about the outsized role of fintech applications, including cryptocurrencies, distributed ledger technologies, digital crowdfunding and robo-advising. Lack of regulation could potentially exacerbate tensions and imbalances in today’s financial markets and the economy in general, she wrote in an article.

Prior to joining Cornell Law School in 2014, Omarova taught at the University of North Carolina Law School and previously worked for the first New York law firm Davis, Polk & Wardwell. She was also a special advisor for regulatory policy in the Treasury Department under President George W. Bush, according to her biography.

Omarova could face a tough confirmation battle, as the banks will likely push against her candidacy. The Biden administration has struggled to fill the OCC headquarters, which is currently headed by Acting Comptroller Michael Hsu.

The administration was considering two more candidates who were seen as more controversial choices, according to the New York Times. The former, Michael Barr, was criticized by progressives as being too comfortable with banks, and the latter, progressive-backed candidate Mehrsa Baradaran, lacked the support of moderate Democrats.

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