Under Fire for ‘Toxic’ Work Culture, Bank Regulator Apologizes Again

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Just days after the release of a scathing report detailing a culture of widespread sexual harassment and discrimination at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, its chair, Martin Gruenberg, submitted congressional testimony on Tuesday that indicated he had no plans to step down. In prepared remarks he plans to deliver to the House Financial Services Committee Wednesday, Mr. Gruenberg largely repeated his previous statements — that he was sorry for the harassment and abuse employees suffered, and that he and his staff were already working on making changes. “I accept the findings of the report and, as chairman, I take full responsibility,” he said. The hearings come as Mr. Gruenberg, a Democrat, faces calls from Republican lawmakers to resign. He has so far survived those demands with the backing of the White House and key Democratic lawmakers like Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Representative Maxine Waters of California. Should Mr. Gruenberg be pressured to depart the agency after the hearings, that could also put into jeopardy a rule that the agency is proposing, along with other federal bank regulators, to tighten and expand oversight of the nation’s largest lenders, but that big banks have fiercely opposed.