The billionaire business tycoon Penny Pritzker appears headed for confirmation as commerce secretary. Pritzker, whose family started the Hyatt Hotel chain, is a close friend of President Obama and served as the national finance chair of his 2008 presidential campaign. At her confirmation hearing Thursday, Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota asked about her ties to Superior Bank, a Chicago-based bank owned by her family that failed after she and her family expanded subprime lending there.

Sen. John Thune: “Ultimately, there were a number of the banks, uninsured depositors that had claims that they lost over $100,000 worth of savings, including one who reportedly deposited her entire retirement account with Superior a month before it failed. What do you have to say to those depositors who lost significant sums of money because of this venture?”

Penny Pritzker: “Well, Senator, I regret the failure of Superior Bank. It’s a — was not an outcome or a situation that I’m — you know, I feel very badly about that.”

If confirmed, Pritzker, with a net worth of over $1.5 billion, would become one of the wealthiest Cabinet secretaries in U.S. history. Bloomberg News reported Pritzker recently inadvertently understated a portion of her income by at least $80 million in a disclosure form required for her nomination. Last year, Pritzker received more than $53 million in consulting fees from her family’s offshore trust in the Bahamas.