Sign the petition: Joe Biden should keep Wall Street and fintech allies out of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency!

This office has the power to issue bank licenses, and can ensure that the banking system is made more fair for everyday people and less risky.

Tell the President and the Senate: "Keep Wall Street and fintech allies such as Michael Barr out of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency!" ADD YOUR NAME The Wall Street Journal reported that President Biden is likely to tap Michael Barr as Comptroller of the Currency, a crucial position that would make him one of the most influential regulators of financial institutions. This office has the power to issue bank licenses, and can ensure that the banking system is made more fair for everyday people and less risky. This news is extremely concerning given that Barr is deeply embedded within the growing fintech world (the intersection of Big Tech and the big banks). He served as an advisor to two scandal ridden firms, Ripple and Lending Club, and currently advises the Alliance for Innovative Regulation (AIR), a fintech-founded group trying to overhaul financial regulation. The American people should be confident that the regulators at the top of our government can be trusted and will act in the best interests of the people. But Barr's coziness with Wall Street and fintech poses a major conflict of interest -- one that disqualifies him from regulating some of the most powerful institutions. Sign the petition: Joe Biden should keep Wall Street and fintech allies out of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency! The American public has learned the hard way what happens when captains of the financial industry post up in the Treasury: Hank Paulson rescued his former colleagues at investment banks. Tim Geithner gave financial institutions a do-over and blocked efforts to support homeowners. Barr's appointment as the comptroller of the currency would be a move from the same Paulson-Geithner staffing playbook — and one that could undermine the agency's ability to perform one of its core responsibilities. What's more, Barr designed the failed HAMP program, which rejected 70% of homeowners who applied for help in the midst of the financial crisis and a massive wave of foreclosures. As we head toward another housing crisis, we shouldn't nominate those who botched the response to the last one. The selection of Michael Barr as the next Comptroller of the Currency would be a major victory for Wall Street, and its offshoot in Silicon Valley — the nascent fintech industry. Biden has asserted racial and economic justice as central pillars of his agenda, and this office provides a huge opportunity to pick a leader who is deeply committed to addressing the power of banks, and the inequities and systemic risks they've perpetuated. In a time when Wall Street banks and financial institutions have unprecedented power, we need regulators who can be trusted to act on the people's behalf -- not do the bidding of the institutions they're tasked with reining in! Sign the petition: Joe Biden should keep Wall Street and FinTech allies out of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency! Thanks, Team Progress Click Here to Sign Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Progress America, please click here.