USA: Joe Biden chooses Michael Barr for Fed banking regulation

by Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Friday that he will appoint Michael Barr, a former Treasury Department official, as vice chairman of the Federal Reserve (Fed), overseeing bank, after the withdrawal last month of Sarah Bloom Raskin, for lack of support from the Senate.

Michael Barr, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, was a central figure in the Treasury Department under President Barack Obama when Congress passed legislation tightening banking regulation after the 2008 financial crisis.

“Michael brings the expertise and experience needed for this important position at a critical time for our economy and families across the country,” Joe Biden said in a statement.

He added that he would work closely with the Senate Banking Committee to quickly move forward the nomination of Michael Barr as well as the confirmation of four other appointments to key positions at the Fed, including that of the institution’s chairman, Jerome Powell.

If confirmed, Michael Barr will be responsible for supervising the biggest banks, setting banks’ prudential ratios. He will also represent the United States in cross-border negotiations on international banking standards.

The American president had appointed in mid-January Sarah Bloom Raskin, to the post of vice-president in charge of supervision.

But the former deputy treasury secretary pulled out of the race two months later after Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and Republican lawmakers said they would not support her, giving her no chance of winning. to be confirmed by the upper house of Congress. (French version Laetitia Volga, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot)