FDIC chair is grilled on Capitol Hill after report outlines agency’s toxic workplace culture

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg sat for a second day of grilling Thursday on Capitol Hill, this time at the Senate Banking Committee, after a damning report about the agency’s toxic workplace culture was released last week.

The hearing was called to address oversight of financial regulators, including the Office of the Comptroller and the Federal Reserve, but two days of testimony have largely focused on the workplace culture at the FDIC and failures, according to the report, by Gruenberg to prevent hundreds of instances of harassment and discrimination against employees.

An independent review of the FDIC ‘s workplace culture released last week describes an environment that fostered “hostile, abusive, unprofessional, or inappropriate conduct,” and questions whether the agency’s chairman is able to lead the agency through a cultural transformation.

The report released Tuesday by law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton cites incidents of stalking, harassment, homophobia and other violations of employment regulations, based on more than 500 complaints from employees.

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