President Joe Biden nominated Christy Goldsmith Romero to succeed Martin Gruenberg as chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). Goldsmith Romero has more than 20 years of experience as a federal attorney and leader in financial regulation, having served under four presidents.
Biden previously nominated her to be a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and she received unanimous Senate approval in March 2022.
She previously served for 12 years at the U.S. Treasury Department, including a decade spent working with the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), after being nominated by then-President Barrack Obama and receiving unanimous Senate approval in 2012.
“Christy Goldsmith Romero, who has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate twice, would bring to the FDIC decades of financial services experience, including valuable experience as the Special Inspector General protecting taxpayers at the Troubled Asset Relief Program,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said in a statement. “She has proven herself to be a strong, independent, and fair regulator who is not afraid to do what’s right. I call on the entire Banking and Housing Committee, Senate leadership, and the full Senate to move quickly to bring new leadership to the FDIC at this challenging time.”
In addition to her required duties at the CFTC, Goldsmith Romero also sponsors the CFTC’s Technology Advisory Committee, which is tasked with examining cybersecurity and emerging technology (artificial intelligence (AI), digital assets, and blockchain technology) and has issued reports on AI and on decentralized finance.
The nomination came the day following the House Financial Services Committee’s hearing regarding allegations of workplace misconduct during Gruenberg’s tenure as FDIC chair.
“Another day with Martin Gruenberg at the helm of the FDIC is one too many,” House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) said in a statement. “Chair Gruenberg’s successor must be prepared to hit the ground running to implement the Cleary Gottlieb recommendations and end the egregious misconduct that has come to define the agency during his tenure. If confirmed, Christy Goldsmith Romero must immediately begin taking steps to reverse the toxic culture overseen by Gruenberg to rebuild trust between FDIC employees and management. The Senate must move forward with confirmation proceedings expeditiously to curtail Chair Gruenberg’s ability to further damage the agency and endanger financial stability.”
In the same statement announcing Goldsmith Romero’s nomination, the White House also revealed three other nominations to key roles at federal regulatory agencies.
- Kristin Johnson, nominated to serve as assistant secretary for financial institutions at the U.S. Treasury Department;
- Caroline Crenshaw, nominated to serve as a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission; and
- Gordon Ito, nominated to serve as a member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council.
Brown congratulated Johnson, Crenshaw and Ito as well, and said he looks forward to an upcoming confirmation hearing in the coming weeks for the nominees.