WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, after the White House announced the nomination of Richard Berner to become the first director of the Office of Financial Research (OFR), U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), a senior member of the Banking Committee who wrote the law creating the OFR, issued the following statement:

“I am delighted President Obama has nominated someone to fulfill this critical role.  We need this office to be analytical and apolitical.  Mr. Berner meets those qualifications and has been essential in setting up the Office of Financial Research. 

“For far too long, those charged with keeping the banking system stable have lacked the data and analytical power to keep up with complex and constantly evolving financial markets and products.  The OFR was designed to help understand the factors that threaten our financial system, provide early warnings, and allow regulators to act on that information. 

“The OFR gives regulators the tools to evaluate the stability of the entire financial system, not just individual banks.  There will always be risks in the market, but if properly managed and staffed, this office can help spot where risk is building up in the system and perhaps help deflate them before they burst on taxpayers.

“Financial companies spend billions of dollars a year analyzing and collecting data and it’s about time the federal government made a modest investment in keeping up. 

“I hope Mr. Berner can quickly be confirmed because with each day that passes, new financial products and activities go unanalyzed, and could put our economy at risk.”

Mr. Berner is currently a senior counselor to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, where he has been helping to establish the new Office of Financial Research.  Prior to joining the Treasury Department, Mr. Berner previously served as the chief U.S. economist for Morgan Stanley and previously worked at the Federal Reserve.

The Office of Financial Research will collect and analyze financial data to help provide early warnings to regulators about financial problems, and allow regulators to act on that information and keep pace with new products being engineered on Wall Street, and decide which companies are systemically important and warrant Fed supervision.  OFR can also help limit the proliferation of new and dangerous ‘weapons of mass financial destruction.’

Senator Reed included the creation of OFR as a provision in the historic Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform law.