Reuters: Regulatory News: Top lawyer at U.S. bank regulator OCC to retire after 19 years

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Top lawyer at U.S. bank regulator OCC to retire after 19 years Aug 13th 2012, 19:33 By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON | Mon Aug 13, 2012 3:33pm EDT WASHINGTON Aug 13 (Reuters) - Julie Williams, chief counsel at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, is retiring from her post after 19 years of government service, the OCC said on Monday. Williams, who will step down on Sept. 30 and leave the government by the end of 2012, has been heavily involved in helping to implement key provisions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law. Her departure comes as the OCC's role in overseeing the nation's largest banks has become even more critical since the financial crisis. The agency in the past has been criticized for being a relatively light regulator, but it now has a new chief, Thomas Curry, who was formerly a member of the board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. At the FDIC, Curry was a righthand man to then-Chairman Sheila Bair, who gained a reputation as a tough cop for Wall Street. The OCC recently came under scrutiny on Capitol Hill after it came to light that JPMorgan Chase is facing nearly $6 billion in trading losses after a derivatives hedging strategy executed in London went wrong. The OCC has said it will review whether executives should have to give back compensation and whether the bank provided the regulator with enough information about the trades. Some lawmakers have questioned whether regulators, including the OCC, looked past red flags. During her career at the OCC, Williams has served as chief counsel for four different comptrollers, as well as two short stints as acting comptroller of the currency. The OCC said that over the years, she worked on numerous policy areas including stronger privacy policies for banks and using consumer testing to improve bank disclosures. "In her 19 years at the OCC, her contributions to the agency and her role in the world of financial services regulation have been extraordinary," Curry said in a statement. The OCC said Deputy Chief Counsel Daniel Stipano will serve as acting chief counsel from October through the end of the year, and Deputy Chief Counsel Karen Solomon will then fill in until March while the agency searches for a permanent replacement. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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