
The Senate Banking Committee will consider nominations for three critical financial regulation roles, all of which will significantly shape bank policy during the Trump administration.
All are expected to be confirmed with uniform Republican support. While Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and other Democrats will ask critical questions, the candidates need only a simple majority on the panel to advance to the full Senate.
President Donald Trump tapped Jonathan Gould to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. He has a deep history in bank law, most recently as a partner at law firm Jones Day, and experience in the crypto industry — a major plus for both Republicans and a new crop of crypto friendly Democrats — as crypto infrastructure and security firm Bitfury's chief legal officer.
He also previously served at the OCC as its senior deputy comptroller and chief counsel, and as counsel to the Senate Banking Committee under then-Chairman Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.
Luke Pettit, formerly a senior policy advisor to Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., is nominated to be assistant secretary of the Treasury. He's set to have an expanded degree of soft power compared to previous assistant secretaries as the Trump administration looks to consolidate bank regulation under Treasury's purview.
Paul Atkins, who previously sat on the Securities and Exchange Commission and has a long history on Wall Street, is being considered to lead the SEC.
Atkins promised to reduce regulation for the U.S. financial system.
"The current regulatory environment for our financial system inhibits investment and too often punishes success," he said in his written opening remarks. "Unclear, overly politicized, complicated, and burdensome regulations are stifling capital formation, while American investors are flooded with disclosures that do the opposite of helping them understand the true risks of an investment. It is time to reset priorities and return common sense to the SEC."