New chief economist named for national bank regulator

A new chief economist has been named for the regulator of national banks, replacing the incumbent who retired in June, the agency said Monday.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said Charles W. Calomiris, Ph.D. will be the agency’s next Senior Deputy Comptroller for Economics; he will start July 20. He replaces Michael Sullivan, who the OCC said retired in June and had served in this role since June 2017. In his new role, Calomiris will oversee the agency’s Economics Department, lead staff who directly support bank supervision, conduct analysis and research on bank-related issues, and provide regular reports to OCC executives and personnel. He will also serve as a member of the agency’s executive committee.

The agency said he 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.

He is past president of the International Atlantic Economic Society, according to the agency, and has served on (among others) 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.

He earned 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.

Charles W. Calomiris Named Senior Deputy Comptroller for Economics