Joseph Otting, former banker, sworn in as top U.S. bank regulator

[November 28, 2017]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Joseph Otting, a former banking executive and associate of U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, was sworn in as U.S. comptroller of the currency on Monday to serve as the leading regulator of national banks.

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin swears in Joseph M. Otting as Comptroller of the Currency, as his wife Bonnie Otting watches in Washington, U.S. November 27, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Otting will oversee big banks such as Bank of America Corp <BAC.N>, JPMorgan Chase & Co <JPM.N> and Wells Fargo & Co <WFC.N>.

He spent more than 30 years as a banker with stints at U.S. Bank and Union Bank and was most recently chief executive officer of OneWest, the California lender started by Mnuchin after the 2008 housing crisis.

Otting said on Monday that thriving banks could help advance President Donald Trump's goal of improving the economy.

"Job creation and economic growth are part of the president's agenda and banks can support those goals," Otting said in a statement.

As the day-to-day regulator for large lenders, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is responsible for writing banking rules and helping to monitor the health of Wall Street.

(Reporting By Patrick Rucker; Editing by Bill Trott)

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