“That’s the key with any sort of new innovation: How can you foster responsible, useful innovation and protect consumers and markets from bad actors?”
ADRIENNE HARRIS, DFS SUPERINTENDENT
THE MONDAY MORNING after the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul hosted a press briefing to talk down a nation on the edge. The bank, Signature, had a New York charter, but it wasn’t Hochul who decided to seize control of the collapsing institution and hand it over to the FDIC, capping the most turbulent financial weekend since 2008. After a brief introduction, Hochul ceded the stage to the woman who had choreographed the takeover: Adrienne Harris, superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services.
With an understated assurance, Harris stood at the podium, describing how her team had worked with the federal government to avert disaster. “The banks are open and ready for business this morning,” she said with the hint of a smile.
The New York DFS is an unusually powerful regulator, not only because of its seat in the financial capital of the
