The Department of Treasury has appointed Kenneth Phelan to the newly-created position of chief risk officer. He reports directly to Sarah Bloom Raskin, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.

A Treasury memo obtained by Bloomberg News in 2013 said the role of the chief risk officer will be to “provide permanent financial risk-management expertise.”

Phelan joined the Treasury in November 2014 after serving most recently as chief risk officer of RBS Americas since 2011. Prior to joining RBS, he spent two years as chief risk officer of Fannie Mae, and one year as chief risk officer at Wachovia prior to that, with executive leadership responsibility for Wachovia's global credit risk management, market risk management, and operational risk management.

Earlier in his career, Phelan served as head of risk management services at JPMorgan from 2004 to 2008. He also served as head of risk strategy development for Bank One from 2001 to 2004, the year it was acquired by JPMorgan.

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