Mercantile Bank International (MBI), an innovative payments and digital asset custody bank based in Puerto Rico, today announced the hiring of Eric Edwards to lead its growing U.S. and global banking operations.
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Edwards, who has over 25 years of banking and financial services regulatory experience in the private sector and on Capitol Hill, joins MBI as president and will split time between Washington, DC, and San Juan.
“Eric’s deep knowledge of bank and financial services regulatory matters, combined with his business acumen and broad relationships throughout the industry and in the regulatory community, make him the perfect candidate to lead MBI into the future,” said Bo Collins, Chairman of MBI.
Edwards’ experience includes having served as counsel for the Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, where he played a key role in drafting the Credit CARD Act of 2009. Edwards also advised members of Congress on a broad range of bank regulatory and policy matters, including oversight of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
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Previously, he held leadership positions on a variety of committees and personal offices in the House and Senate dating back to the mid-90s. In those various positions, Edwards played a lead role in developing the nation’s first ever anti-money laundering strategy and directed a wide-ranging investigation into the International Monetary Fund.
Edwards comes to MBI from FS Investments, a leading asset manager based in Philadelphia, PA, where he was a Managing Director and Head of Government Affairs. Previously, Edwards was a partner at Crowell & Moring LLP, a Washington, DC, based global law firm, and also served as a Vice President in the Office of Government Affairs for the Goldman Sachs Group.
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