40 laid off at financial market risk agency - report

The Office of Financial Research was created in the wake of the global financial crisis

By Francis Monfort

10 Aug 2018

The Trump administration is cutting the staff of an agency created to guard against financial risks, according to a report by Reuters.

A person familiar with the move told the publication that the Trump administration has informed around 40 employees at the Office of Financial Research (OFR) that they would be laid off.

The cuts are part of a wider reorganization of the office that was established following the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

According to the source, OFR staff had been notified in January of plans to eliminate job as the administration wanted to cut the agency’s budget by 25% to around $76 million. The OFR is an independent bureau under the US Treasury.

Some OFR employees have previously left voluntarily, the source told Reuters.

“We are working to make OFR a more efficient organization with a stronger workforce and culture to better execute on the mission,” a Treasury spokesman said in an email statement.

“The plan to reshape the workforce was announced to OFR employees in January, and the headcount reduction is an important step toward streamlining operations and reducing costs,” the spokesman said.

According to the report, the OFR is cooperating with the Treasury to help OFR employees to find new roles.

Congressional Republicans and other critics have been attacking the OFR for years, claiming the office is unproductive and unnecessary, according to the report.

With the reorganization, the OFR joins the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau among the financial regulators that President Donald Trump has began overhauling.