Walter Yao was Director in Financial Institution Supervision and Credit at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (FRBSF) before his retirement in December 2020.  He joined the FRBSF in 1989 and served in various capacities such as Supervising Financial Analyst and Accounting Specialist.  In addition, he participated in a number of Federal Reserve System initiatives, most notably co-chairing the Accounting Communications Network which is a nationwide committee dedicated to researching and discussing pertinent accounting issues among Reserve Bank Accounting Specialists.  

After his advancement to Director, he had managed the following functions within Financial Institution Supervision and Credit:
•    Country Analysis Unit
•    Foreign Banking Supervision
•    Surveillance and Analysis
•    Data Analytics

As Director, his major accomplishments included planning and participating in a number of high-level Federal Reserve System delegations to Asian economies for Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank Presidents; speaking at a number of conferences sponsored by central banks, international organizations, and training institutes; and overseeing a highly visible Asia Program that involves creating an Asian Regulator Training Program; a joint FRBSF-Monetary Authority of Singapore Symposium on Banking and Finance; and a public webpage containing Asia Focus publications, Pacific Exchange blogs, and podcast series.
 
During his tenure at FRBSF, he also served as an Advisor to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and engaged in various technical assistance programs.  In particular, he participated in the first IMF Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) of the People’s Republic of China in 2010.

Walter Yao obtained his Bachelor of Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Master of Science in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon University.  He also earned the professional designations of Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, and Chartered Financial Analyst.