Trump Names Finance Regulator Transition Teams, Includes Fryzell Posted by Association of Vermont Credit Unions on 11:09 AM

In his first presidential action directly tied to credit unions, President-elect Trump appointed past NCUA Chairman Michael Fryzel to an NCUA "transition team."

Fryzel was NCUA chairman from 2008 to 2009, during the corporate credit union crisis, and remained on the board until 2014. He currently runs a Chicago-based financial consulting firm.  Fryzel favors the NCUA board examining its rules that were enacted when the credit union industry was impacted by the corporate credit union crisis and the recession and believes the NCUA should provide direction to the industry through guidance, rather than new regulations.  In addition, he does not support House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling's (R-Texas) desire to expand the NCUA board from three to five members.

Other financial regulator transition team members appointed by Trump include:

• Federal Trade Commission:  Alex Pollock, a prominent critic of financial regulations. He’s a Dodd-Frank critic and favors the GOP desire to repeal Dodd-Frank and give banks regulatory relief if they meet a legally prescribed capital requirement. He opposes reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act, even though the Trump campaign and GOP policy platform call for its return.
  
• Federal Reserve:  Ralph Ferrara, a Washington-based attorney focused on white collar defense and securities litigation.
  
• Treasury Department:  Eileen O’Connor, a self-employed attorney who served as the assistant attorney general for the tax division at the Justice Department during the George W. Bush administration.
  
• Federal Housing Finance Agency:  Tim Bitsberger served as assistant secretary of the treasury for financial markets during the George W. Bush administration and most recently was a managing director at BNP Paribas. From 2006 through 2008 he worked at Freddie Mac.
  
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities & Exchange Commission:  Sharon Brown-Hruska, a former acting chairman of the CFTC under President George W. Bush. She’s currently director of securities and finance and white collar practices at National Economic Research Associates Inc.
  
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.:  Paul Atkins, a former member of the SEC, had already been named as leader of the transition’s overall work on independent financial regulators.
  
• Export-Import Bank:  Bradley Bondi, an attorney at Cahill, Gordon & Reindel LLP.

More details are online.