James E. Smith was Comptroller of the Currency of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 from 1973 to 1976.

James E. Smith was Deputy Under-Secretary of the Treasury before being named Comptroller by President Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

. The explosive growth of banking in the 1960s and 1970s was changing the face of banking.

In response, Smith led a review of the agency's examination practices, which changed the way the agency did business: more emphasis was placed on assessment of a bank's own policies, procedures, decision making, and management information system, and the importance of training and career development for national bank examiners was recognized. After his resignation, Smith became a financial consultant.