The Trump administration tapped Office of the Comptroller of the Currency veteran Jonathan Gould to lead the financial regulator, according to a document sent to the Senate on Tuesday.
The document, published by Punchbowl News, named dozens of high-level government nominations including Gould, who has worked in the private sector since February 2022.
He was chief legal officer at blockchain firm Bitfury from that month until September 2022, and has served as a partner at law firm Jones Day in Washington, D.C., since then.
Gould spent about four years in government – one year as chief counsel for the Senate Banking Committee and roughly three years as senior deputy comptroller and chief counsel of the OCC during the first Trump administration.
“As the former Senior Deputy Comptroller and Chief Counsel of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and over a decade of private sector experience, Mr. Gould understands the complexities of the current financial landscape and the need for regulators to work productively with industry to meet the needs of the consumers we both serve,” Consumer Bankers Association CEO Lindsey Johnson said in a prepared statement Tuesday night. “If confirmed, we look forward to working with Mr. Gould and the OCC as the industry continues to strengthen the banking system to expand opportunities for businesses and consumers alike.”
Gould was not immediately available for comment, and a spokesperson for the OCC declined to do so.
According to his Jones Day bio, Gould led the OCC’s legal and licensing team through a period of regulatory revision. His efforts, and those of the 230 people he led, according to his LinkedIn profile, included the implementation of the Economic Growth Act, which amended provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act by lessening the regulatory burden on smaller banks.
Gould, like many of President Donald Trump’s nominees, appears more amenable to crypto than the chief banking regulators seen during the Biden administration. During Gould’s previous stint at the OCC, the regulator chartered the first fintech (Varo Bank) and crypto banks (Anchorage Digital).
Former Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks, Gould’s OCC boss for a time, also worked at Bitfury, as well as Binance.US, and currently sits on the board at crypto-friendly business intelligence firm MicroStrategy, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The American Fintech Council released a statement Wednesday morning in support of Gould’s nomination.
“Throughout his time both at the OCC and in the private sector, Mr. Gould has shown a clear commitment to creating a financial system that supports both responsible innovation and consumer protection,” Ian Moloney, senior vice president and head of policy and regulatory affairs at the AFC, said Wednesday. “By modernizing supervisory practices and encouraging collaboration across regulatory agencies, the OCC can create a more consistent and transparent regulatory environment that benefits consumers and financial institutions alike.”
The Senate Banking Committee next will likely set a date for a nomination hearing for Gould, who needs Senate confirmation to take the OCC role.
If confirmed, he will replace Rodney Hood, the former National Credit Union Administration chairman who was appointed to the position in an acting capacity Monday.
