The Florida Bankers Association (FBA) has named Kathy Kraninger, former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) director during the Trump administration, to replace Alex Sanchez as chief executive officer.
Kraninger will be the fourth CEO of the trade group, which was established in 1888 to advocate for Florida banks.
In a social media post, Sanchez said the FBA “will continue in their dedication in serving our industry by helping the FBA’s fourth CEO, Kathy Kraninger, and her efforts.”
During the Great Recession, when “75% of Florida’s banks were not making a profit and laying off employees, the banks still paid the FBA dues,” Sanchez said. When COVID hit, the FBA team “worked around the clock to help our industry help their customers with these critical loans to help our state recover from the negative impact,” he added.
Kraninger was a program associate director for general government in the White House Office of Management and Budget before serving as the CFPB director from December 2018 through January 2021.
She positioned herself against her job by agreeing with the Trump administration that the CFPB director should be allowed to be fired by the President at will.
Kraninger resigned at Biden’s request in the early days of his administration.
“Over the past two years, that is precisely what I have done – with the law as my guide, with the support of the dedicated CFPB staff and in partnership with the many stakeholders who join in the bureau’s mission ‘to ensure all consumers have access to markets for consumer financial products and services…that are fair, transparent and competitive,’” Kraninger said when she left the CFPB January 2021.
In July 2021, as regulatory oversight of cryptocurrency loomed, Solidus Labs appointed Kraninger to lead its regulatory efforts as its vice president of regulatory affairs. Solidus Labs creates cryptocurrency market surveillance tools.
Since March 2023, Kraninger has been also a member of Plural VC, a venture community of regulatory experts, operators, and investors.
