Senate committee unanimously recommends Sean Barrett for Utah financial regulator

The Senate Business and Labor Confirmation Committee voted 6-0 to recommend Sean Barrett to the full Senate for confirmation as commissioner of the Utah Department of Financial Institutions after a public hearing in which Barrett described his experience and priorities for the agency.

Barrett, the nominee, told the committee he was “honored to be asked by Governor Cox to serve” and outlined a career in state financial regulation that began in 1998 when Commissioner Ed Leary hired him as a bank examiner. Barrett said the department oversees state-chartered community banks, industrial banks, credit unions and a range of nondepository lenders and money-service businesses, and that Utah “ranks fifth in terms of assets under supervision at the state level in the whole country.”

The committee’s endorsement follows questions focused on three areas Barrett identified as priorities: preparing staff for a potential economic downturn, strengthening the department’s ability to oversee emerging financial technologies, and…