Bush To Nominate Treasury Veteran To FDIC Post.

The Bush administration announced it intends to nominate Shelia Bair as the next chairwoman of the FDIC board of directors. If confirmed by the Senate, Bair will lead the agency as it faces a decision on whether to allow Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to open an industrial bank in Utah. She is currently a professor of financial regulatory policy at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In her academic position, Bair has written on issues such as low-cost payday loans and Social Security private accounts. She has served as assistant Treasury secretary for financial institutions earlier in the Bush administration and as commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Senate Banking Chairman Shelby said in a statement he would schedule a hearing on Bair's nomination "as expeditiously as possible." The term would be for five years. The FDIC insures deposits at 8,854 banks and savings associations and oversees the safety and soundness of these institutions. Bank and credit union lobbying groups responded positively to the Bair nomination. Edward Yingling, president of the American Bankers Association, called Bair "an outstanding choice." The National Association of Federal Credit Unions noted Bair's "professional interests are closely aligned with the interests of credit unions" citing her work on payday lending, financial education and reaching out to immigrant populations.