Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Jacinda Ardern gives her last speech as a member of the New Zealand Parliament, Jill Biden will lead the U.S. delegation to King Charles’s coronation, and Fortune crypto reporter Leo Schwartz explains why a financial regulator is stepping into the limelight. Have a thoughtful Thursday.
– In focus. Financial regulators try to avoid the limelight, which usually only shines when something has gone horribly awry. But it seems to be following around Adrienne Harris, the superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services.
As the principal regulator for the financial capital of the world, the DFS is an unusually powerful state agency, combining broad oversight powers that are more parceled out at the federal level. Harris is responsible for everything from New York’s biggest state banks to student loan providers to the topsy-turvy crypto sector.
A veteran of the Treasury Department and the Obama administration, Harris became the first Black woman to lead the DFS when she was sworn in at the beginning of 2022. Despite her impressive background, Harris was placed in a nearly impossible position. As a state agency, the DFS’s mission is not only market resilience and consumer protection, but also to promote economic growth in New York. For Harris, that has meant nurturing the state’s burgeoning crypto industry, which it attracted thanks to its nation-leading approach to granting operating licenses to digital asset companies.
Harris has shown aplomb in wrangling the renegade industry, expanding her department’s crypto team, and handing down enforcement actions against industry leaders like Coinbase. In the wake of November’s spectacular collapse of FTX, as many policymakers and regulators have distanced themselves from the sector, Harris has demonstrated a willingness to continue working with companies while ensuring that New York doesn’t offer safe haven to the next Sam Bankman-Fried. In February, she waded deeper into the muck after becoming the first U.S. agency to target Binance, the stateless exchange that has become a focus for global regulators.
Her most decisive—and divisive—action came last month, in the midst of the worst U.S. banking crisis since 2008. After Silvergate voluntarily liquidated and Silicon Valley Bank failed, all eyes turned to Signature, a crypto-friendly bank with a New York charter that fell under Harris’s jurisdiction. Two days after SVB collapsed, Harris announced that DFS would seize Signature, a move that quickly became a lightning rod as many—including board member Barney Frank—accused her of targeting the bank because of its crypto ties, an accusation she described as “ludicrous.”
The controversy has not seemed to faze Harris, who has her head down regulating the DFS’s massive portfolio. “That’s the key with any sort of new innovation, is how can you foster responsible, useful innovation and protect consumers and markets from bad actors,” Harris told me earlier this year. “You have troubling times, and it’s not an easy thing to do as a policymaker, but that’s the job.”
Read the full story from Fortune’s April/May issue here. You can follow more of Leo’s work and keep up with the latest in crypto regulation by subscribing to the Fortune Crypto newsletter to get his Wednesday column, Proof of State, delivered free to your inbox.
Leo Schwartz
leo.schwartz@fortune.com
@leomschwartz
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- You're fired. A month after being publicly fired on live television from her role as CEO, Christine Ourmieres-Widener has not received any instructions about the leadership turnover at TAP SA, a Portugal-owned airline company. While in the seat, Ourmieres-Widener led the company to post a profit for the first time since 2017. She has sought legal representation to contest her removal, which Portugal’s Finance Minister Fernando Medina said was due to a severance payment to a former board member. Bloomberg
- Women world leaders. Female world leaders had an eventful news day yesterday. Jacinda Ardern gave her final speech as a member of New Zealand's Parliament, reflecting on her five-year tenure. The husband of Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's former first minister, was arrested by police investigating the Scottish National Party's finances; he was released without charges. Outgoing Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced she would step down as leader of Finland's Social Democrats after the party lost the country's recent election. And the White House announced that First Lady Jill Biden will lead the U.S. delegation to King Charles III's coronation.
- De-risk not de-couple. Head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen is in Beijing with French President Emmanuel Macron in an effort to persuade Chinese President Xi Jinping to help stop the war in Ukraine. While the Biden administration has taken a more aggressive approach by threatening sanctions on China, the EU leaders are hoping to take a more strategic "de-risk" approach to pressure China. New York Times
- Data breakdown. Asian American and Pacific Islander women earn 80 cents to every white man's dollar on average, as this week's AAPI Equal Pay Day spotlights. But the model minority bias and lack of data make that number a misrepresentation of the experiences of Southeast Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander women. For example, Taiwanese women earn $1.08 to a man's dollar, while Nepalese women earn only $0.48. The 19th
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Cobalt has hired Lisa Matherly as CMO.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- Clean energy investment. Industrial machinery company Cummins is investing $1 billion in clean energy upgrades at facilities in Indiana, North Carolina, and New York. CEO Jennifer Rumsey said the plan is to move to cleaner engines and power plants with zero-emission energy sources. Reuters
- Layoffs avoided. General Motors, led by CEO Mary Barra, hit its target for voluntary buyouts and will not have to lay off staff for now. Cost savings are a company priority for the next two years, as it tries to find $2 billion in savings. Company execs do not see raising prices as an option given the tumultuous market. Detroit Free Press
- Persistent wage gap. Data from more than 10,000 employers in the U.K. shows that women are still paid 9.4% less than men. The banking and finance sectors are the worst, with women earning 22.1% less than their male colleagues. Experts blame a lack of intentional targets for women in leadership positions. BBC
- New internship model. Rose Shumba has been a key part of building an internship pipeline for computer science students at Bowie State University, a historically Black university in Maryland. Rather than subjecting students to lengthy, unpaid computer programming tests, tech recruiters make multiple trips to Bowie to foster relationships with students and help guide them over time to be ready for internships. New York Times
ON MY RADAR
How Squid Game's Hoyeon became a new kind of megastar GQ
It's time to address the Emily in the room New York Times
Who is Karen McDougal and how is she linked to the Trump case? Washington Post
Angel Reese can shine as brightly as she wants The Atlantic
PARTING WORDS
“I focus on the idea that we are all intended to work together to get it done, and that there has to be room at the table for all. We must honor the unique identity and contributions of everyone.”
—Michelle Gethers-Clark, Visa's chief diversity officer, who has been key in moving part of the C-suite to Atlanta
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