WASHINGTON - Amy Friend, the chief counsel of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, will retire on Nov. 11, the agency said late Wednesday.
Friend has served in the job since 2013, where she led the agency's legal team and oversaw efforts to implement the Dodd-Frank Act. That role was fitting as Friend previously worked for the Senate Banking Committee from 2008 to 2010 where she helped write the financial reform law as part of then-Chairman Chris Dodd's staff. Friend later left Capitol Hill to become a managing director at Promontory Financial Group before being hired at the OCC under then-Comptroller Thomas Curry.
"Amy has made far-reaching contributions to the OCC and to the federal banking system,” said acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika in a press release. “Her work at the agency and on Capitol Hill helped shape financial services as we know it, promote the safety and soundness of our nation’s banks and thrifts, and protect and empower consumers. Her vision and tireless effort to promote responsible innovation at the OCC and throughout the industry changed our national dialogue on the topic.”
In 2015, she headed up the agency's efforts to promote responsible innovation including to help produce the agency's white paper on the subject. The press release said Friend plans to retire from government service. She previously worked at the OCC from 1998 to 2008.
The OCC said it is still searching for a successor. Until that time, the role will be assumed by Karen Solomon, who currently serves as one of two deputy chief counsels overseeing legislative and regulatory activities. Solomon is a long-time veteran of the OCC, having joined in 1995 from the Office of Thrift Supervision, where she was a deputy chief counsel.
