Bimal Patel, a former leading financial regulatory partner at O’Melveny & Myers, is the Trump administration’s nominee for a top supervisory post at the U.S. Treasury Department.
The White House Sept. 13 announced that President Donald Trump has nominated Bimal Patel for a post in the Treasury for Financial Institutions.The position, which requires U.S. Senate confirmation, coordinates the department’s efforts on legislation and regulation that affect financial institutions and securities markets.
Since May 2017, Patel has served as the deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury for the Financial Stability Oversight Council. He joined the Treasury from O’Melveny’s Washington office, where he headed the financial advisory and regulation practice.
At O’Melveny, Patel had been regulatory counsel on merger transactions and fund investments, and he represented financial industry clients in class action litigation over credit discrimination statutes.
Some of his clients included Deutsche Bank Securities, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, U.S. Bancorp, BB&T Corp., Alibaba Group Holding, Chain Bridge Partners, Fannie Mae and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, according to a financial disclosure on file at the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Patel in 2017 reported about $666,000 in partner share at the firm. O’Melveny this year told The American Lawyer that revenue per lawyer in 2017 remained relatively flat at $1.2 million, while profits per partner saw an increase to $2.01 million.
Patel would succeed Christopher Campbell, who was confirmed in August 2017 to the post but left the Treasury in recent weeks. Campbell formerly was majority staff director on the Senate Finance Committee.
Campbell’s final financial disclosure report at the Treasury—called a “termination” report, which is filed when an official leaves an agency—shows he became a member of the board of directors at West Corp. and Coinstar. The companies are both owned by the private equity firm Apollo Global Management. West Corp., based in Omaha, Nebraska, provides voice and data services globally.
