Biden to nominate anti-crypto law professor to run the OCC
According to news reports, the Biden administration has an intention to nominate Saule Omarova, former policy advisor and Kazakhstani-American attorney, to the position of Head, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
OCC is America’s lead financial institution that oversees the entire banking sector in the United States.
Omarova has recently expressed criticisms against crypto assets, and had in the past made statements against the legacy banking sector insisting that they must “end banking as we know it”
She had also professed that cryptocurrency is for the benefit of largely “the dysfunctional financial system” that the US already has.”
According to Bloomberg’s September 22 report, three close to the administration sources have confirmed they are “familiar with the nomination process” and that Omarova could be nominated to the post as soon as this week.
Omarova is presently a law professor at the Law School at Cornell University. It is expected that if confirmed for the designation, Americans would see tighter regulations in the crypto sector as she has described the digital wallets ecosystem as a “threat” to the economy’s stability and “ripe for abuse” from big financial entities.
Omarova, who specializes in banking laws and corporate finances, would bring about a significant shift from the administration before hers led by former Coinbase legal officer Brian Brooks who headed the agency toward the end of Trump’s presidency. Brooks, unlike Omaraova, was a strong crypto proponent.
Omarova is also known for offering radical prescriptions for the American financial industry. As an academic, she is noted to have advocated for consumer banking services to be exclusively administered by only the US Federal Reserve rather than other private institutions.
Omarova has also previously served in the US Treasury Department during George W. Bush’s presidency tenure as the special adviser for regulatory policy to the United States.
Political analysts, however, believe that getting the OCC job for Omarova isn’t an easy task and would definitely not be one without a fight. Also, the Democrats at present hold a slim majority in the US Senate and its is projected that the banking sector would lobby against her appointment strongly.
If Omarova is appointed to the Head of OCC, she would become the first woman to officially lead the agency, although OCC did have a female Director in the past.
According to the New York Times, the Biden administration had started the procedure for vetting Omarova for the OCC role in early August.
The Democrats had previously considered former Treasury official Michael Barr and law professor Mehra Baradaran for the OCC role. Still, they were dropped soon when they realized none of their candidatures could garner enough support to grant confirmation.
