Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman Sheila Bair will depart from her FDIC post on July 8, the FDIC announced today. Bair has stated publicly in the past that she would leave her position following the expiration of her term as chairman, and today’s announcement confirms she will leave following her final FDIC board meeting during the first week of July.
Bair’s term officially ends June 30, but she plans to stay the extra days to finish work on the rule requiring systemically risky firms to outline how they can be unwound in the event of a collapse, a source told Bloomberg News.
During Bair’s five-year tenure at the FDIC, she led the agency to close 365 banks, according to an NPR report, including Washington Mutual, the largest bank failure in the nation. Bair was responsible for leading the FDIC through the financial crisis, and keeping public confidence in the U.S. banking system.
Bair was known for taking on some of the largest banks and for pushing those banks to pay a larger share of the fees that the agency charges to insure deposits, NPR reported.
Vice Chairman Martin Gruenberg may be a likely successor to Bair. If the Obama Administration does not appoint a replacement prior to Bair’s departure, Gruenberg will become acting chairman.
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
