Markets Wired

WASHINGTON—The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today announced that Charles W. Calomiris, Ph.D. will be the agency’s next Senior Deputy Comptroller for Economics.

As the agency’s chief economist, Dr. Calomiris will oversee the OCC’s Economics Department, providing economic, risk, and policy analysis to enhance the agency’s mission of bank supervision as well as its policy development. He will lead staff who directly support bank supervision, conduct analysis and research on bank-related issues, and provide regular reports to OCC executives and personnel.

As a Senior Deputy Comptroller, Dr. Calomiris will be a member of the OCC’s Executive Committee. He begins his new role on July 20, 2020.

“The American economy is built on the federal banking system, and hundreds of millions of people and businesses rely on it for financial services each day,” said Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian P. Brooks. “The world’s most respected banking system requires one of the nation’s leading economists to inform its policies and to assess the impact of OCC decisions on the ability of the banking system to help deliver economic stability and growth. Charlie Calomiris will play a central role in the thought leadership of our agency moving forward.”

“I am honored to join the leadership team of the OCC at a time when the agency is grappling with important crisis-related challenges, as well as assessing the future of bank charters, the role innovation can play in the American financial system, and the interaction of digital assets with the banking system,” said Dr. Calomiris. “These are historic times and I look forward to working with a talented team of economists and other professionals to ensure that our banking system is safe, sound, and fairly accessible for all Americans.”

Dr. Calomiris joins the OCC from Columbia University where he was Henry Kaufman Professor of Financial Institutions at Columbia Business School, Director of the Business School’s Program for Financial Studies and its Initiative on Finance and Growth in Emerging Markets, and a professor at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

His research spans banking, corporate finance, financial history, and monetary economics. He has served as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, a Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a member of the Shadow Open Market Committee and the Financial Economists Roundtable, and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Dr. Calomiris is past president of the International Atlantic Economic Society, and has served on numerous committees, including the Advisory Scientific Committee of the European Systemic Risk Board, the U.S. Congress’s International Financial Institution Advisory Commission, the Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee, and the Federal Reserve System’s Centennial Advisory Committee.

Dr. Calomiris received a bachelor’s in economics from Yale University, Magna Cum Laude, a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University, and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel.

Dr. Calomiris replaces Michael Sullivan, who retired in June and served in this role since June 2017.