After helping financial institutions weather the financial crisis and oversee the Troubled Asset Relief Program, Richard Neiman is expected to step down as New York banking superintendent in April.
Neiman, who has been at the department for four years while also serving on TARP's Congressional Oversight Panel for the past two, said it is time to move on. "With the COP terminating April 3, it's a natural transition point," Neiman said in an interview.
But his public service may not end there. Although he declined to comment on the issue, Neiman is a top contender to be the next comptroller of the currency or possibly even head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
"I cannot comment on the administration's process for appointments," Neiman said. "I'm going to be considering all options. I've loved the public sector, and I have always enjoyed my professional career in the private sector. There could not have been a more challenging and exciting time to be a financial regulator, and I think being a state regulator provided a very unique perspective."
Neiman counts New York's passage of a mortgage reform law in 2008 and a servicing law a year later as two of his main accomplishments, saying he hopes they will serve as a model for national standards.
"When I joined in early 2007, being in a position to draft and implement legislative reforms with respect to mortgage underwriting and mortgage servicing led to the most comprehensive servicer regulations in the country," he said. "Our team's success resulted from identifying the problem, drafting and adopting reform legislation, implementing that law through regulations and now getting to see the beginning of results."
Before joining the New York State Banking Department, Neiman was the chairman, president and chief executive of TD Bank USA. From 1994 to 2006 he was executive vice president and general counsel of TD Waterhouse Group. He also was vice president and counsel at Citigroup, including general counsel of its global equities group from 1979 to 1989. He began his career at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency where he was a special assistant to the chief counsel.
Neiman was also key in fighting for preemption changes in Dodd-Frank and maintaining the Federal Reserve Board's role in the supervision of state banks.
