Cornell University professor Saule Omarova testifies on fintech at a hearing held by the Senate Banking Committee on September 18, 2018. Today, Omarova is President Biden’s nominee to head the agency. oversees much of the assets held by the country’s banks, and she will appear before the same Senate committee for her confirmation hearing on Thursday.
Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urbanism
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Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urbanism
Cornell University professor Saule Omarova testifies on fintech at a hearing held by the Senate Banking Committee on September 18, 2018. Today, Omarova is President Biden’s candidate to head the agency. oversees much of the assets held by the country’s banks, and she will appear before the same Senate committee for her confirmation hearing on Thursday.
Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urbanism
The president’s choice to be a top banker doesn’t usually attract much interest, but this time it was different.
President Biden has nominated Saule Omarova, a law professor at Cornell University, to be the next head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the body responsible for managing the wealth of the United States. more than 1,000 banks.
Progressive Democrats welcomed that announcement, seeing in her someone who would bring a tougher approach to banks at an agency that has been criticized for being too friendly with its sector. . But Republican critics, including Senator Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., see someone else: a “radical” candidate who wants to nationalize the bank.
Omarova has drawn unusually personal criticism from some of her critics. They raised her Kazakh-born, and an academic paper she wrote recently suggested a re-creation of the US financial system as proof that she didn’t “reject her Soviet-era views.” himself”, as The Wall Street Journal commented. the editorial board it.
Omarova, who came to the US as a college student and is now an American citizen, strongly denies she holds communist views. She accused her critics of being a woman and being an ethnic minority.
The Senate Banking Committee will hold her nomination hearing on Thursday, and it will likely be contentious.
Here’s a look at Omarova and her nominations.
What is OCC?
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, operating since 1863, operates and oversees banks ranging from smaller, community lenders to large institutions, including Bank of America, Citibank and Wells Fargo.
Although OCC is located within the Department of the Treasury, it operates independently and part of its mission is to “ensure fair access and equal treatment of banking customers.”
The Treasury Building is seen in Washington, DC on May 4. The OCC is a little-known regulatory agency within the Treasury Department with an overwhelming role in overseeing banking assets.
Patrick Semansky / AP
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Patrick Semansky / AP
The Treasury Building is seen in Washington, DC on May 4. The OCC is a little-known regulatory agency within the Treasury Department with an overwhelming role in overseeing banking assets.
Patrick Semansky / AP
Why is this work so important?
Despite its relatively small size, OCC has a sizable regulatory footprint.
Collectively, the organizations that OCC oversees have assets worth nearly $15 trillion. They represent 65% of all “US commercial banking assets,” according to OCC.
OCC has previously been criticized for perceived it to be too close to the banks it regulates. The man in charge of accounting in the Trump administration, Joseph Otting, is said to have referred to the banks as his “customers”.
Who is Saule Omarova?
The White House nominee as the next currency executive is currently a professor of corporate law and financial regulation at Cornell University.
Previously, Omarova worked as an attorney at Davis Polk, and during the George W. Bush administration, she served as a special adviser on management policy in the Treasury Department.
Although her research is wide-ranging, covering everything from energy policy to infrastructure investments, Omarova is a distinguished scholar in financial regulation.
Head portrait of Saule Omarova, professor of corporate law and professor of financial regulation at Cornell University. Omarova has faced harsh criticism from some Republicans and conservatives for her views on reforming the financial system.
Cornell University
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Cornell University
Head portrait of Saule Omarova, professor of corporate law and professor of financial regulation at Cornell University. Omarova has faced harsh criticism from some Republicans and conservatives for her views on reforming the financial system.
Cornell University
“Saule is considered by many to be one of the leading financial management scholars in the world,” said Jeremy Kress, associate professor of business law at the University of Michigan. “Whether you agree with her or disagree with her, you cannot have a complete debate on current topics in US banking law and US financial regulation without taking into account the what Saule wrote on the subject.”
But her research has been criticized by some critics.
In an article, Omarova suggested the federal government could make bank accounts available to every American through the Federal Reserve. Supporters of that proposal say it would significantly reduce the number of “unbanked” people. Critics say it would weaken commercial banks.
In another article, she called for the creation of an agency that, unlike the Food and Drug Administration, would be responsible for approving or rejecting new financial products.
What do critics of Saule Omarova say?
In a fiery speech in OctoberSenator Toomey told his colleagues, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more radical choice for any managerial position in our federal government.”
Ms. Omarova “clearly has an aversion to anything like free-market capitalism,” the senator said, citing examples of her academic work.
Transparent an interview Last month on Fox Business, Toomey said Omarova’s interest in these and other topics could have been shaped by her upbringing.
“You might ask yourself, ‘Where would someone come up with these ideas?'” he says. “Well, perhaps a contributing factor could lie in the fact that one grew up in the former Soviet Union, went to Moscow State University, and attended there on a Vladimir Lenin Academic Scholarship.”
Omarova was born in present-day Kazakhstan. She came to the US as part of an exchange program as a student at Moscow State University in 1991. But when the Soviet Union dissolved, she was stuck in the United States. Today, she is a citizen of the United States.
Senator Pat Toomey, R-Pa., Pictured during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on September 14. Toomey, a senior member of the committee, is one of the Senate’s critics. most outspoken for Omarova.
Evelyn Hockstein / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
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Evelyn Hockstein / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
Senator Pat Toomey, R-Pa., Pictured during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on September 14. Toomey, a senior member of the committee, is one of the Senate’s critics. most outspoken for Omarova.
Evelyn Hockstein / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
What did Omarova and her supporters say?
Omarova has defended her research and countered the personal nature of the attacks against her.
In an interview with MSNBC, Omarova said, “My whole academic career has been focused on this issue of how to make sure that our financial system is stable, efficient and effective.”
Her supporters have also denounced Omarova’s critics. In an interview with NPR, the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, called Toomey’s remarks “despicable” and a “character assassination.”
How will Omarova approach the OCC work if confirmed?
Financial experts say Omarova is likely to adopt a tougher approach towards banks, but many agree that her previous research has been misrepresented.
Radicals would welcome a tougher approach to banks, and Omarova’s candidacy aligns with the Biden administration’s regulatory approach to date.
“I think part of what she stands for is an attempt to change the status quo,” said Kathryn Judge, a professor at Columbia Law School. “Computers are often seen as overreacting to the interests of the industry it oversees.”
According to Judge, Omarova would see that relationship differently.
“She’s really determined to make sure banks are delivering core services to the people who need them,” she said.
At the same time, experts claim that Omarova’s critics, including Toomey, are misrepresenting her research.
“Many of us do thought experiments about how we would re-imagine or restructure the financial system if we were to start from scratch,” said Kress from the University of Michigan.
“That’s not to say that any of us who have gone through those ideological exercises, if placed in a position of power in government, will seek to influence this kind of large-scale change. “
What is the possibility that Omarova is confirmed?
Despite opposition from Republicans, the White House pushed for Omarova’s nomination.
“Saule Omarova is an excellent qualified person and was nominated for this role due to her strong track record in regulation and good academic credentials,” an administration official said in a statement to NPR. . “The White House strongly supports this historic nomination.”
But Democrats have a slim majority in the Senate as a whole and on the Senate Banking Committee.
So far, Senator Jon Tester, D-Mont., one of the more moderate members of the committee, has expressed some concerns about Omarova.
Some of Dr. Omarova’s previous statements about the role of government in the financial system have raised real concerns about her ability to serve fairly in the Office of the Curator and I look forward to it. would like to discuss it with her at her hearing,” Tester said in a statement.
But Senator Brown is optimistic that Omarova’s nomination will receive broad bipartisan support.
“I am very interested in this nomination,” he said. “We’ll make it happen.”
