President Biden is considering nominating Richard Cordray, a close ally of far-left champion Sen. Elizabeth Warren, to serve as the Federal Reserve’s top banking regulator, according to reports Tuesday.
If nominated and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Mr. Cordray would serve as the Fed’s vice chair for supervision. The position was created after the 2007-09 financial crisis to serve as a watchdog focused on banks and financial institutions.
Mr. Cordray is accustomed to the watchdog role having served as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was the brainchild of Mrs. Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, and made a reality by former President Obama.
The Fed’s vice chair for supervision is responsible for ensuring the nation’s largest lenders including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Citi, are financially healthy. The official also monitors banks’ balance sheets, financial reserves and also looks for broader structural threats to the banking system.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that Mr. Cordray is under consideration for the position.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, Ohio Democrat, told CNBC Tuesday that he’s spoken to administration officials about Mr. Cordray to fill the vacancy.
Mr. Cordray served as Ohio attorney general from 2009 to 2011, but lost the gubernatorial election to Mike DeWine, a Republican, in 2018.
During the Obama administration, Ms. Warren, then a White House adviser, picked Mr. Cordray to run the CFPB’s enforcement unit. He was later promoted to run the entire CFB. He left in 2017 after the election of former President Trump.
Mr. Cordray now runs the Department of Education’s student line program.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Times.
In a statement last week, announcing the nomination of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell for a second term, the White House said Mr. Biden intends to appoint someone to the vice chair for supervision role sometime in early December.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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