Former bank CEO Joseph Otting was sworn in Monday as the country's top regulator of national banks.
Otting succeeds Keith Noreika, who served since May as acting comptroller of the currency.
During Noreika’s short tenure atop the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, he took numerous stances that drew cheers from bankers, including his opposition to a proposed ban on mandatory arbitration clauses. Otting is expected to support a similar industry-friendly agenda.
“I look forward to enhancing the value of national bank and federal savings charters, reducing unnecessary burden, and promoting economic opportunity while maintaining the safety and soundness of the federal banking system,” Otting said in a statement.
Otting is widely expected to continue Noreika’s push to roll back Obama-era initiatives that placed greater emphasis on consumer protection.
“In my experience, bankers support regulation, but effective regulation evolves with the changing needs of the nation and should be reviewed and modified as those needs change,” he said in Monday’s statement.
Otting also thanked Noreika for his work.
“The nation was fortunate to have such a champion of the federal banking system leading the agency, and I wish him continued success as he returns to the private sector,” Otting said.
Otting was president and CEO of OneWest Bank from 2010 to 2015, and after his nomination by President Trump, he drew criticism over the bank’s treatment of financially strapped homeowners. Progressive groups called the Pasadena, Calif.-based bank a foreclosure mill.
Still,
Otting was sworn in by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the onetime chairman of OneWest.
