May 22, 2009
TG-146

Michael S. Barr Confirmed as Assistant Secretary for Financial institutions

WASHINGTON – Michael S. Barr was confirmed by the United States Senate late yesterday to serve as the Department of the Treasury's Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions. As Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions, Barr is responsible for developing and coordinating Treasury's policies on legislative and regulatory issues affecting financial institutions.  

"Michael Barr is widely recognized as a leading national expert on financial institutions, particularly as they pertain to consumer interests, regulatory reform and those who struggle to access basic financial services. We are very pleased to have him back at the Treasury Department," said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.   

Barr has taught Financial Institutions, International Finance, Transnational Law, and Jurisdiction and Choice of Law, and co-founded the International Transactions Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School. He has also served as a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and at the Brookings Institution. Barr has researched and written about a wide range of issues in financial regulation. He has conducted large-scale empirical research regarding financial services and low- and moderate-income households. Barr recently co-edited Building Inclusive Financial Systems (Brookings Press 2007, with Kumar & Litan) and Insufficient Funds (Russell Sage 2008, with Blank).

Barr previously served as Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin's Special Assistant, as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, as Special Advisor to President William J. Clinton, as a special advisor and counselor on the policy planning staff at the State Department, and as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter and then-District Court Judge Pierre N. Leval of the Southern District of New York.

Barr received his J.D. from Yale Law School, an M. Phil in International Relations from Magdalen College, Oxford University, as a Rhodes Scholar, and his B.A., summa cum laude, with Honors in History, from Yale University. He is married to Hannah Smotrich and has three children, Avital, Dani, and Etai.

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