Acting Wall St regulator chief will stay away from big banks to avoid conflict

Washington

THE new acting chief of one of Washington's major banking regulators has agreed to stay away from issues involving dozens of former legal clients, including 14 banks that the agency oversees, according to his ethics agreement.

Keith Noreika, who represented lenders as a private lawyer, plans to recuse himself from matters related to JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America Corp, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Citigroup Inc, firms the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) regulates.