Saule Omarova

Omarova practiced law in the Financial Institutions Group of New York-based law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell for six years.^[18] During the George W. Bush Administration, Omarova served in the Department of the Treasury as a special advisor on regulatory policy to the Under Secretary for Domestic Finance.^[6] During her time as an associate professor of law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Omarova testified as a witness at a U.S. Senate hearing on bank ownership of energy facilities and warehouses.^[19]

Omarova joined Cornell Law School in 2014.^[20] She was professor of law and public affairs from July 2014 to June 2019 and was named the Beth and Marc Goldberg Professor of Law in June 2019.^[21] In 2025, she joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School as the Earle Hepburn Professor of Law.^[22]

In August 2021, Omarova's name was floated as a potential contender to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) under President Joe Biden.^[23] She was chosen to serve as comptroller of the currency in September 2021, pending Senate confirmation.^[3][24] Omarova's nomination was endorsed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, who stated she would be a "fearless champion for consumers" in the role if confirmed.^[25] Her nomination was criticized by credit unions and bank lobbyists.^[4]

Her confirmation hearings occurred before the Senate Banking Committee on November 18, 2021.^[26] Republicans were critical of her 2021 paper "The People's Ledger"^[27] in which Omarova proposed that the Federal Reserve should provide consumer banking services.^[26] Her confirmation hearing drew controversy, with Senator Patrick Toomey characterizing some of her views as "extreme leftist ideas."^[26] Omarova's Kazakh origins were the subject of scrutiny from Republican lawmakers including Senator John Kennedy, who said to her, "I don't know whether to call you 'professor' or 'comrade,'" comments that drew rebukes from Democrats on the committee.^[28]

Omarova also faced opposition from several moderate Democratic Senators, including Jon Tester, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.^[29] On December 7, 2021, the White House announced that Omarova had withdrawn her name from nomination.^[4]

Omarova is noted for her support for a "National Investment Authority" (NIA),^[30] a proposal she has likened to New Deal-era programs. The proposal was first developed in 2015 in conjunction with Robert C. Hockett, a fellow professor of law at Cornell Law School.^[31] Omarova has stated that the NIA would be responsible for "devising, financing, and executing a long-term national strategy of economic development and reconstruction."^[32] In 2020, Omarova wrote a report for think tank Data for Progress, where she stated the "Green New Deal (GND) movement has successfully propelled [a] programmatic vision of an environmentally clean, just, and equitable future."^[33]

The proposed NIA would be made up of two components: a "National Infrastructure Bank" (NIB), as well as a National Management Corporation (which she nicknames "Nicki Mac"), which would serve to invest in green technologies.^[34] A 2020 article published in The New York Times reported that the proposed NIA would function in a manner similar to the Federal Reserve, and compared the NIA framework to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation created in 1932.^[35]

In a 2021 Vanderbilt Law Review article, "The People's Ledger: How to Democratize Money and Finance the Economy", Omarova proposed a comprehensive reform of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet, offering what she wrote was "a blueprint for democratizing both access to money and control over financial flows in the nation's economy."^[36] She called for the Federal Reserve to offer consumer bank accounts and become "the ultimate public platform for generating, modulating, and allocating financial resources in a modern economy," writing that the "radical reform outlined here is ultimately a more pragmatic and sensible response to the challenge of democratizing finance."^[36]

According to a report by The New York Times, Omarova favors stricter regulations on cryptocurrencies and financial technology (fintech) companies.^[23] In response to reports that Facebook may launch its own cryptocurrency, Omarova argued it was an example of "Big Tech companies [resorting] to ever more creative ways to expand a monopolistic and extractive business model under the guise of corporate activism."^[37] In a paper by Omarova published in the Yale Journal on Regulation, "New Tech v. New Deal: Fintech as a Systemic Phenomenon" (2019), she argued that financial technology applications may amplify tensions and imbalances in financial markets and the broader economy, "render[ing] fintech a public policy challenge of the highest order."^[38]