(Reuters) — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has tapped Maria Vullo, a New York lawyer and former staffer, as the state's top financial regulator, his office said Thursday.

The nomination of Ms. Vullo as superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services comes more than eight months after the May 2015 departure of former superintendent Benjamin Lawsky.

Ms. Vullo, a litigator from New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison L.L.P., also served as executive deputy attorney general for economic justice in 2010 under Gov. Cuomo, a Democrat, who was then New York state attorney general.

Ms. Vullo could not immediately be reached for comment but issued a statement through Gov. Cuomo's office. "I look forward to working with the talented men and women at DFS to strengthen our markets and protect investors and consumers from unlawful business practices," she said.

Her nomination must be confirmed by the New York Legislature.

The NYDFS has been in flux since Mr. Lawsky's departure, cycling through two acting superintendents.

In October 2015, NYDFS Acting Superintendent Anthony Albanese resigned amid a dispute with Gov. Cuomo's administration, which had sought to approve any subpoenas the regulator intended to issue, according to media reports.

Mr. Albanese remained with the agency until December 2015, when Shirin Emami, general counsel of NYDFS' banking division, became acting superintendent.

Gov. Cuomo and New York's legislature created the NYDFS in 2011 by consolidating the state's banking and insurance agencies. The idea was to modernize regulation through a single agency that would oversee a broader array of financial products and services, the administration has said.

Mr. Lawsky, the agency's first head, grabbed headlines in 2012 when he threatened to revoke Standard Chartered P.L.C.'s license to operate in New York after accusing the London-based bank of hiding $250 billion of Iran-linked transactions from regulators.

Using a banking license as public leverage was an unusual move, creating an uproar that swept across the Atlantic and paving the way for a quick $340 million settlement between Standard Chartered and Mr. Lawsky.

Other U.S. authorities, who were conducting a joint probe into Standard Chartered's sanctions-related violations, did not take kindly to Mr. Lawsky's going it alone. But the move drove home the agency's willingness to wield its power.

Since then, the regulator has been widely perceived as an aggressive enforcer. It has made its mark in other landmark agreements with foreign banks over sanctions and tax-related violations, forcing resignations, record-breaking fines and other reforms.