After 45 years at the Utah Department of Financial Institutions, G. Edward “Ed” Leary has announced his retirement as commissioner. Gov. Spencer J. Cox accepted his resignation this morning.
“The impact Commissioner Leary has had on the state’s financial institutions cannot be overstated,” Gov. Cox said. “Ed is one of the most well-respected people involved in financial regulation in the nation, hands down. He earned that reputation through an incredible track record of success including facilitating interstate banking, updating ATM law, initiating reduced regulatory fees, restructuring Utah trust laws, supporting industrial banking in Utah and so much more. We thank him for his vision and leadership, and wish him a wonderful and well-deserved retirement.”
G. Edward Leary was appointed commissioner of the Utah Department of Financial Institutions in June 1992. He joined the department in 1977 as an examiner and rose through the ranks, holding positions as an industry supervisor and chief examiner before his appointment as commissioner.
“It is difficult to leave the agency where I have served almost all of my professional life,” Commissioner Leary said. “I will sorely miss the association and daily contact with the extraordinary people that are serving and have served at the Utah Department of Financial Institutions.”
Commissioner Leary serves as chairman of the Board of Financial Institutions, a member of the Utah Housing Corporation board, and he provides support to the Utah Money Management Council. He is the past chairman of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS), the national association of state banking supervisors, and currently serves on CSBS’s board as chair emeritus, and on the State Regulatory Registry Board of Managers. He is the past chairman of CSBS’s Regulatory and Technology Committees. He is the past chairman of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council’s State Liaison Committee representing state banking commissioners. He has testified before both houses of the U. S. Congress on financial institution regulation and public policy issues.
Under Commissioner Leary’s leadership, the department became accredited by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the National Association of State Credit Union supervisors and fostered the development of the Industrial Loan Corporation (Industrial Banks) industry in Utah.
Commissioner Leary holds a B.S. in political science and an MBA from the University of Utah. He retired in 1995 as a captain in the U.S. Naval Reserve. He and wife JoAnn have nine children between them, 35 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
