Senate Confirms Martin Gruenberg to New Term Atop FDIC

The confirmation of Mr. Gruenberg as chairman means the FDIC is likely to move forward with more stringent requirements around bank tie-ups, climate change and other matters. Mr. Gruenberg, who has been acting chairman since early this year, won confirmation for a new six-year term at the FDIC in a vote of 45-39. The Senate also voted to confirm him as chairman by voice vote, along with the two Republican nominees.

The move is certain to please Democrats, who pressed the White House to retain Mr. Gruenberg at the FDIC, arguing he is an experienced policy hand who generally favors stricter industry oversight.

Republicans had objected to Mr. Gruenberg, given his role in what GOP members viewed as a power grab last year. The board’s Democratic appointees had concluded the agency’s Senate-confirmed chairwoman, Ms. McWilliams, wasn’t moving quickly enough to consider a policy agenda that included limits on bank mergers. The move hastened the resignation of Ms. McWilliams, who left the FDIC on Feb. 4 even though her term was set to last through mid-2023. Mr. Gruenberg became acting chairman when she left.

Democrats maintained control of the Senate in November’s midterm elections, leading to the plan to keep Mr. Gruenberg atop the agency’s board and to fill long-vacant board seats reserved for members of the minority political party.

A 69-year-old Democrat, Mr. Gruenberg first joined the FDIC board in 2005, during the

George W. Bush

administration, after more than two decades as a Democratic Senate staffer. He was tapped by former President

Barack Obama

to lead the agency in 2011 and remained on the FDIC board after the expiration of his prior board term in 2018, repeatedly dissenting during the Trump administration when the regulator took steps to ease the postcrisis rulebook for banks.

“He is a career public servant and the longest serving member of the FDIC board,” Senate Banking Committee Chairman

Sherrod Brown

(D., Ohio) said in a floor speech Monday in support of Mr. Gruenberg.

Mr. Gruenberg was last confirmed by the Senate in 2012, unanimously by voice vote.

The FDIC is expected to work closely in the coming months with

Michael Barr,

whom President Biden tapped as the Federal Reserve’s lead bank regulator, and other agencies. Priorities include an overhaul of anti-redlining rules to ensure banks invest in areas where they take deposits and not solely around their physical branches. Another likely focus: making it easier to wind down large regional banks in a crisis.

The FDIC supervises thousands of lenders and typically oversees bank seizures after regulators have determined that a firm is in a perilous financial situation. It also insures the nation’s bank deposits and reviews wind-down plans the largest U.S. banks must craft in case they fail.

At present, the board consists of Mr. Gruenberg along with acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director

Rohit Chopra.

Mr. Hill, who served as an adviser to Ms. McWilliams, will return to the agency as its vice chairman. Mr. McKernan joins the board from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Write to Andrew Ackerman at andrew.ackerman@wsj.com