The top regulatory supervisor for the Federal Reserve will step down from his post in late February but will remain on the board of the agency as he continues to fill his board term which runs to the next decade, the Fed announced Monday.
Between the time he leaves office and a successor takes his seat, the Fed said it won’t take up any major rulemakings.
Michael S. Barr, the second Federal Reserve Board vice chair for supervision, will leave his post Feb. 28 (unless a successor is nominated and confirmed by the Senate before then, according a statement issued by the Fed). Barr assumed the job in July 2022 after being nominated by President Joe Biden (D) and confirmed by the Senate. The Fed said Barr submitted a resignation letter to Biden dated Monday.
In resigning as new president Donald Trump (R) is poised to take office Jan. 20, Barr is following the approach taken by his predecessor in the position, Randy Quarles, who resigned in December 2021 following the inauguration of Biden. Quarles had been nominated by Trump in his first term.
Barr’s term as supervision vice chair runs to 2026. However, his term on the Fed Board runs to 2032 (he is now serving an unexpired term of 14 years that began Feb. 1, 2018).
“The position of vice chair for supervision was created after the Global Financial Crisis to create greater responsibility, transparency, and accountability for the Federal Reserve’s supervision and regulation of the financial system,” Barr said in a statement. “The risk of a dispute over the position could be a distraction from our mission. In the current environment, I’ve determined that I would be more effective in serving the American people from my role as governor.”
The Fed also said that its board “does not intend to take up any major rulemakings until a vice chair for supervision successor is confirmed.”
Barr is a former Treasury official, having served in the administration of President Barack Obama (D) in the National Economic Council in the White House and as assistant Treasury secretary for financial institutions – where he was a key architect of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank), according to the White House.
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