U.S. President Donald Trump plans to nominate
former Treasury official Randal Quarles to be the Federal Reserve's top
banking regulator, the White House said on Monday.
If
confirmed by the Senate, Quarles would be the first vice chair of
supervision at the Fed, a role created after the 2008 financial crisis
but never filled during the Obama administration.
Quarles
is viewed as an industry-friendly figure who will likely listen to
banks that have complained about the impact of regulations implemented
since the financial meltdown. His nomination has been widely expected
since April.
Former Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo
effectively ran banking supervision until he stepped down in February,
overseeing a strict implementation of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street
reform law and administering rigorous "stress tests" annually to banks
on how prepared they are to withstand unexpected shocks.
Quarles
currently runs a private investment firm that he founded, the Cynosure
Group, from Salt Lake City, Utah. He was previously a partner at private
equity firm the Carlyle Group. He was also under secretary for domestic
finance at the Treasury under President George W. Bush and was the U.S.
executive director of the International Monetary Fund.
In
an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal in March 2016, Quarles and
Lawrence Goodman, another former U.S. Treasury official, argued against
breaking up big banks because it would risk damaging the wider economy.
He has also talked about refining Obama-era financial rules, introduced
after the financial crisis.
Quarles will be a
central figure in pushing the Trump administration’s plans to loosen the
leash put on Wall Street banks following the crisis.
Trump laid out his plans last month but he needs officials at key
regulatory posts to carry out his agenda. He has gradually been
nominating heads of financial agencies, but only Treasury Secretary
Steven Mnuchin and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay
Clayton have been approved by Congress.
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