WASHINGTON–The FDIC says it is looking for “techies” to join its ranks, including someone to become its chief innovation officer to lead a “Tech Lab” it has formed to promote innovation.
FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams said she is on “a mission to change how the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation views innovation, and I need some help…It (has become) increasingly clear to me that technology was moving at a speed that our regulations simply could not follow.”
McWilliams said she recently met with two-dozen fintechs in Silicon Valley and San Francisco to learn more about how they team up with banks to offer new and innovative products and services to consumers.
“For the most part, the FDIC does not regulate these companies,” said McWillilams. “I was eager to solicit their opinions for a simple reason: if our regulatory framework is unable to evolve with technological advances, the United States may cease to be a place where ideas and concepts become the products and services that improve people’s lives.”
Looking to Foster Innovation
McWilliams said the FDIC is looking to foster innovation, which is why it launched the FDIC Tech Lab, or FDiTech, to “engage with banks and fintechs to help us understand the latest financial technology and provide sound guidance and technical assistance to banks that choose to deploy these new technologies. By engaging with these innovators, we can better understand their technology and work with them to ensure that compliance is built in from the start. These discussions will also help us identify regulatory questions or impediments that may arise with new innovations and work with institutions to address them.”
McWilliams said the FDIC is now seeking quants, data scientists, process engineers, software developers, and network security experts who “can reshape our supervisory approach in a rapidly evolving digital world and help protect our financial system.”