Bank Overseer Nominee Faces Tough Confirmation Dance

WASHINGTON—An academic who professes twin passions for Argentine tango and financial regulation is engaged in a contentious two-step with those who want to sink her nomination to oversee large national banks.

President Biden this month nominated Saule Omarova, a Cornell University law professor, to be comptroller of the currency, which supervises many of the biggest U.S. lenders including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. Ms. Omarova’s earlier calls for shrinking big banks and creating a much bigger role for the Federal Reserve in consumer banking has encountered a backlash from industry advocates and Republicans who have said she is antibank and envisions an overly large role for the government that would crimp business, even at community lenders.