Walter Yao is a Director in the Financial Institution Supervision and Credit (FISC) Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, overseeing the Country Analysis Unit (CAU). The CAU is responsible for research on Asian financial sectors and the supervisory analyses of Asian foreign banking organizations that operate in the United States. In addition, the CAU manages FISC’s Asia Program, which conducts activities designed to share information on issues and developments in Asian financial sectors with the banking and regulatory communities. As part of this work, the CAU publishes the Asia Focus periodical, maintains the Pacific Exchange Blog and podcasts, and holds regular conferences, symposia, and forums to address current events that may impact banking and regulatory policies.

During his career, Mr. Yao has managed other functions within FISC, including the Surveillance and Data Analytics Units and the Foreign Bank Supervision team, which is responsible for the direct supervision of the U.S. operations of foreign banking organizations in the 12th District. He has also served as FISC’s primary accounting specialist and has co-chaired a Federal Reserve System Committee on accounting issues. During his tenure at the Reserve Bank, Mr. Yao has been an advisor to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under its technical assistance programs with various Asian central banks. In particular, he participated in the IMF’s Financial Sector Assessment Program for the People’s Republic of China in 2010.

Mr. Yao received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Science in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon University. He also holds the professional designations of Chartered Financial Analyst, Certified Management Accountant, and Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Yao currently serves on the board of directors of the University of Washington’s Global Bankers Program (formerly Pacific Rim Bankers Program).