New York’s top banking regulator Benjamin Lawsky, who used his leverage to stiffen penalties against some of the world’s largest financial institutions, will probably step down next year to take a job in the private sector, Bloomberg reported today. Lawsky was appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to head the newly formed Department of Financial Services in 2011, with a mandate to regulate state-licensed banks and insurance companies. He became widely known the following year for threatening to revoke Standard Chartered PLC’s license to operate in New York after growing frustrated with the slow pace of settlement talks over sanctions violations. It isn’t yet clear who Cuomo will name to fill the position after Lawsky resigns. Cuomo combined New York’s bank regulatory department and its insurance division to create DFS in the aftermath of the financial crisis, forming a new state regulator that could monitor hybrid products marketed by all kinds of financial institutions.
