Grace nominated again for top banking post

Ray Grace, who was named acting state banking commissioner last year, has been nominated once again to be North Carolina's top banking regulator.

Gov. Pat McCrory announced Monday that he has nominated Grace, who joined the N.C. Office of the Commissioner of Banks as an examiner trainee in 1974, to be the next commissioner of banks.

Last year McCrory's predecessor, Gov. Bev Perdue, nominated Grace for the top job but the state legislature never acted to confirm the nomination, according to the banking commission.

Likewise, McCrory's nomination of Grace must be confirmed by the legislature. If Grace is confirmed, his term would run through March 31, 2015.

"I am honored to be nominated by Gov. McCrory to serve as North Carolina’s Commissioner of Banks, a position I have held in an Acting capacity for the past 13 months," Grace said in a statement.

Perdue named Grace acting commissioner in February 2012 after Joseph Smith Jr. resigned to become monitor of the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight that oversees a $25 billion settlement with five of the nation's largest banks that aims to provide relief to struggling homeowners.

Grace was appointed chief deputy banking commissioner in 2010. He is a graduate of Niagara University in New York and served with the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam in 1967-68.