Head of Bank Supervision at Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco to Retire

Azher Abbasi, the head of bank supervision at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, will retire on October 31. Abbasi, who is also the executive vice president of the Supervision + Credit group, has been with the San Francisco Fed since 2015.

Bloomberg News first reported this development on Monday, and the retirement of Abbasi has been confirmed by the San Francisco Fed. As an interim measure, Niel Willardson, previously associated with the Minneapolis Fed, will assume the role starting from October 1.

Earlier this year, Abbasi and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly faced criticism following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which resulted in a crisis within the U.S. banking system. Critics claimed that the Fed missed warning signs regarding this incident. Furthermore, the crisis also led to the failure of San Francisco-based First Republic Bank, which was later acquired by JPMorgan Chase.

An internal report from the Fed described the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank as a “textbook case of mismanagement by the bank.” In July, Daly stated in an interview that she purposely refrained from becoming involved in day-to-day supervision of banks in her district.