Amy Friend Named OCC Chief Counsel

WASHINGTON — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced today that Amy Friend has been named the agency's Chief Counsel.

Ms. Friend, a former assistant chief counsel at the OCC, has had a varied career in both the public and private sectors. Most significantly, she served as chief counsel to the Senate Banking Committee, where she played an integral role in the development of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

"I'm very pleased that Amy has agreed to rejoin the OCC in this new capacity," said Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry. "She has been involved in financial services regulation and legislation for more than 20 years, and she has an unparalleled knowledge of the Dodd-Frank Act, which we are still in the process of implementing. In her years as assistant chief counsel at the OCC, she worked on a number of important issues, including consumer privacy. I could not think of a better person to step into this important role."

Ms. Friend will begin work at the OCC next month.

Before joining the OCC in December 1997, Ms. Friend was minority general counsel to the House Banking Committee. She had previously served as counsel to the Committee and as counsel to the panel's Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs and Coinage. She also held various positions on the legislative staffs of Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Rep. Charles E. Schumer, and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. She earned her J.D. in 1984 from Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C., and a B.A. in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

She left the OCC in 2008 to become chief counsel to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and joined Promontory Financial Group in January 2011 as a managing director. Ms. Friend succeeds Julie L.Williams, who retired from the OCC at the end of 2012.