Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chair Jelena McWilliams has announced her resignation, effective Feb. 4.
The Consumer Bankers Association issued a statement on McWilliams’ resignation.
“As the head of the FDIC, Chairman McWilliams has served her nation and the banking industry with honor and distinction. Throughout this pandemic, she has worked tirelessly to ensure America’s leading banks were equipped to lift up millions of hardworking families and small businesses struggling to make ends meet. Her story – from arriving as an immigrant in the United States just three decades ago to becoming Chairman of one of our nation’s leading banking regulators – truly embodies the American dream and should inspire us all. As a former Capitol Hill colleague, Chairman McWilliams has certainly inspired me, and CBA is grateful to her for her years of service,” CBA President and CEO Richard Hunt said.
McWilliams spoke at CBA’s recent Washington Forum, outlining her views on the strength of the banking system, especially during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hunt recently wrote an op-ed in The Hill reflecting on the importance of maintaining transparency, confidence, and stability of leadership at the FDIC.
“Following Chairman McWilliams’ departure, the agency – whose board members have worked to balance the will of the majority and minority for nearly a century – will be without any ideological balance for the first time in recent memory. To preserve confidence in the FDIC, the Board of Directors should not pass any new rules or regulations until a replacement Board member representing the minority party is seated. Otherwise, it will be operating without any checks and balances, akin to Congress legislating with input only from the party in power. Failure to do so threatens not only the strength and resiliency of our banking system but the hundreds of millions of families who depend on it,” Hunt added.