VOA News | Tuesday, May 21, 2024 
Head of US deposit insurance agency to step down

New York — The White House said Monday that the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation would step down, a departure that will follow the release this month of a damning report about the agency’s toxic workplace culture. The White House said Martin Gruenberg would step down once a successor was appointed and that President Joe Biden would name a replacement “soon.” The announcement came after the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee earlier Monday called for Gruenberg’s removal. Biden expects the FDIC “to reflect the values of decency and integrity and to protect the rights and dignity of all employees,” deputy press secretary Sam Michel said in a statement. The FDIC is one of several U.S. banking system regulators. The Great Depression-era agency is best known for running the nation’s deposit insurance program, which insures Americans’ deposits up to $250,000 in case their banks fail. Before Monday, no Democrats had called for Gruenberg’s ouster, although several came very close to doing so. But Senator Sherrod Brown, the top Democrat on the Banking Committee, who is facing a tough reelection campaign, issued a statement Monday calling for Gruenberg to step down, saying his leadership at the FDIC could no longer be trusted…Read more