DODD-FRANK/TREASURY: “Economist Richard Berner plans to leave his post as the Treasury Department’s first-ever director of the Office of Financial Research at the end of the year.
The office was created by the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul to analyze financial data to spot potential market risks, and its director is confirmed to a six-year term, which was designed to insulate the department from political maneuvering.
Mr. Berner announced his decision at a staff meeting and didn’t provide a reason for his departure, according to a person familiar with the matter.
He previously served as a counselor to then Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in 2011 and was confirmed as the office’s director in January 2013.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin thanked Mr. Berner for his service in a written statement on Monday, calling him ‘instrumental’ in launching the office.
The office has been a target of congressional Republicans since its creation, with lawmakers seeking to disband it, and it has moved slowly on its mission to become a tripwire for catching a future financial crisis. The Trump administration has said the Treasury should oversee the office’s staffing and budget decisions, essentially undoing the political buffers that Congress instituted in the 2010 law that created the entity.”
-Nick Timiraos, “U.S. Treasury’s First Director of Office of Financial Research to Leave Post,” The Wall Street Journal online, Nov. 6, 2017 12:00pm