The Fed Needs a Boring Bank Regulator
Instead of another Sarah Bloom Raskin, Biden should nominate an apolitical Fed staffer.
Don’t make the same mistake again.
Photographer: Ken Cedeno/Reuters/BloombergThe collapse of Sarah Bloom Raskin’s candidacy to head banking supervision at the Federal Reserve represents a major setback for financial policy in the U.S. Given how important the position is for the country’s financial stability, and given how politicized the effort to fill it has become, I see one way forward: Depoliticize the process by nominating a longtime Fed staffer.
Congress created the position of vice chair of supervision and regulation at the Federal Reserve Board in 2010, as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation. The Obama administration never nominated anyone for the job, but Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo essentially assumed the associated responsibilities. Tarullo resigned in 2017 after the election of Donald Trump, who appointed Randal Quarles to the post later that year.