Biden Picks Ex-Brown Senate Aide for Bank Policy Job at Treasury

(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden picked Capitol Hill veteran Graham Steele for a key Treasury Department post that helps coordinate legislation and regulations affecting the U.S. financial sector.

The White House announced Biden’s intent to nominate Steele as assistant secretary for financial institutions in a Monday statement, setting him up as the administration’s point person on policies for Wall Street banks and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Working with regulatory agencies such as the Federal Reserve and Securities and Exchange Commission, he’s expected to target issues including wealth inequality and how climate change could threaten financial stability. He previously served as a long-time aide to Senator Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democrat who now leads the Senate Banking Committee. The Senate would have to confirm Steele’s nomination.

The Massachusetts native would join Treasury from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he is the director of the Corporations and Society Initiative. He previously worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and for Washington-based advocacy group Public Citizen.

“I am confident that as Assistant Secretary, Mr. Steele will support the President’s fight to address income inequality, climate change, and systemic racism, and to make our economy more just for workers,” Brown said in a Monday statement. He added that Graham about Graham has spent his career “fighting Wall Street greed.”

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.