FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg to Resign in January

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) Chairman Martin Gruenberg will step down from that post and from his seat on the board of directors the day before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

Gruenberg told President Joe Biden Tuesday (Nov. 19) that he will retire from those positions effective Jan. 19, 2025, according to a message that he sent to FDIC staff Tuesday and that was provided to PYMNTS by an FDIC spokesperson.

“It has been the greatest honor of my career to serve at the FDIC,” Gruenberg wrote in the message. “I have especially valued the privilege of working with the dedicated public servants who carry out the critically important mission of this agency.”

Gruenberg joined the FDIC in 2005, served as chairman from 2012 to 2018, and was appointed to his second term as chairman in December 2022. He had been acting chairman since the departure of the former chair earlier in 2022, PYMNTS reported at the time.

The FDIC became embroiled in controversy after a law firm issued a report in May saying the agency fostered a toxic environment.

Facing political pressure, Gruenberg said in May that he would step down when a successor is confirmed by the Senate.

“Until that time, I will continue to fulfill my responsibilities as chairman of the FDIC, including the transformation of the FDIC’s workplace culture,” Gruenberg said in a May 20 statement.

In June, the White House said in a press release that Biden planned to nominate Christy Goldsmith Romero, a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), to become chair and member of the FDIC.

That nomination has remained “in limbo,” Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Ranking Member Tim Scott of South Carolina said in a Tuesday press release that he has called on Gruenberg to resign from the FDIC for almost a year and that Tuesday’s announcement is “long overdue.”

“I look forward to new leadership at the FDIC who will support the agency’s employees, hold bad actors accountable and restore a respectable office culture,” Scott said in the release. “The FDIC’s mission is too important not to.”