Bank Groups Unite Against Biden’s Pick for Key Regulatory Post

“The core of all of this and the source of our most significant concerns is we look at everything that she has said or written publicly, there are bold ideas that essentially look at eliminating the banking system as we know it today,” said Rebeca Romero Rainey, the president of the Independent Community Bankers of America, in an interview on Tuesday.

A White House spokeswoman and Ms. Omarova declined to comment.

While most of the institutions represented by the Independent Community Bankers of America would not be overseen by Ms. Omarova, they are crucial to her confirmation chances. The threat of its disapproval may be enough to convince moderate Democrats not to vote in her favor, and even a single defection could scuttle her because of the 50-50 split between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate.

The American Bankers Association and another industry group, the Consumer Bankers Association, have contacted Senators Mark Warner of Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana, two moderate Democrats on the Senate banking committee, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The Independent Community Bankers of America has also reached out to the Democrats least likely to support her if her nomination reaches a vote of the full Senate, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, the person said.

When asked about the contacts with the two senators, Ms. Romero Rainey said her group was voicing concerns about Ms. Omarova — even though she acknowledged that Ms. Omarova has worked on the side of community banks on some issues.

Ms. Omarova, for example, filed a court brief in support of a lawsuit by New York’s state banking regulator over the O.C.C.’s creation of a new charter for non-bank financial technology companies, known as fintechs, which small banks worry will take business away from them while evading the strict rules they have to follow. She has also written about the need for more restrictions on industrial loan companies, another type of lender that the community bankers see as a threat. And she has publicly warned about the risks of big banks and other large financial institutions becoming too powerful.

But none of that seems to matter compared with Ms. Omarova’s support for Federal Reserve-issued bank accounts.