Key insight: Adrienne Harris exits as the longest-serving superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services after a reform-heavy tenure that raised the agency’s national profile.
Supporting data: Harris expanded the agency’s Community Reinvestment Act standards, saved New Yorkers $22M on check-cashing fees and propped up new oversight of buy now/pay later loans.
Forward look: Kaitlin Asrow, top DFS staffer and former Federal Reserve advisor, will serve as acting superintendent.
Adrienne Harris, New York state’s most senior financial regulator, is stepping down next month according to a statement from New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who appointed department veteran Kaitlin Asrow to acting superintendent beginning Oct. 18.
Hochul praised Harris in a statement, saying the outgoing, longest-serving superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services’ four year tenure was characterized by a number of reforms that raised the profile and force of the agency.
“I’d like to thank Superintendent Harris for her four years of service at DFS, working every day to make our financial system work for New Yorkers, while also rebuilding the Department into a regulator fit for the financial capital of the world,” wrote Governor Hochul in
Appointed in 2021,
Nationally, Harris became the first New York representative on the U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council, a mega-body of federal financial regulators. She developed DFS’ virtual currency unit into the country’s leading crypto regulator, barring troubled crypto firms FTX, Voyager and Celsius from operating in the state. She also secured $2.1 billion in repayments from Gemini and imposed hundreds of millions in penalties on Coinbase, Paxos, and others for AML and sanctions violations. Harris also led over 1,200 new hires and promotions in her tenure and will leave the DFS fully funded for the first time since its establishment in 2011.
Harris expressed gratitude to the governor and her constituents in her parting statement.
“It has been a privilege and an honor to serve New Yorkers, delivering positive outcomes for consumers; cementing DFS as a global regulatory leader; and transforming the Department’s operations,” Harris wrote. “I want to express my deep gratitude to Governor Hochul, and to the DFS team for the excellent work they do every day to create a more equitable, transparent, and resilient financial system.”
Harris’ incoming temporary replacement Asrow has been at the NYDFS for four years as executive deputy superintendent for research & innovation. She led oversight of virtual currency firms, inclusion and innovation policy development and modernizing technology at the agency. Before state regulation, Asrow was a senior policy advisor at the Federal Reserve, where she worked on innovation policy at district banks and federal regulators. She holds a B.A. from Stanford and an M.P.P. from the University of Chicago. Arrow committed to continuing the work to keep the NYDFS a national leader in the state regulation of banks and financial services.
“I am humbled by the opportunity to continue working in service of New Yorkers under Governor Hochul’s leadership,” Asrow said. “I am committed to ensuring that New York remains the global financial capital, a leader in consumer protection, and a hub for responsible financial innovation.”