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Head of Consumer Watchdog Names Successor, Trump Names Another

by Associated Press

   NEW YORK --

   The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau resigned
   Friday and named his own successor, leading to an open conflict with
   President Donald Trump, who announced a different person as acting head
   of the agency later in the day.

   That means there are now effectively two acting directors of the CFPB,
   when there should only be one.

   Typically an acting director position would be filled according to the
   Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. But Richard Cordray, along with
   his resignation, elevated Leandra English, who was the agency's chief
   of staff, into the deputy director position.

   Under the Dodd-Frank Act that created the CFPB, English would become
   acting director. Cordray, an Obama appointee, specifically cited the
   law when he moved English, a longtime CFPB employee and ally of his,
   into that position.

   'Trump appoints CFPB critic

   Within a few hours, President Donald Trump announced his own acting
   director of the agency, Mick Mulvaney, who is currently director of the
   Office of Management and Budget. Mulvaney had widely been expected to
   be Trump's temporary pick for the bureau until a permanent one could be
   found.

   Mulvaney is a long-time critic of the CFPB, and has wanted the agency's
   authority significantly curtailed. So the difference between English
   and Mulvaney running the agency would be significant.

   Senate confirmation needed

   The person nominated to be director of the CFPB requires confirmation
   by the Senate, and it could be many weeks or months before the person
   would be able to step into the role permanently. Cordray's move was
   aimed at allowing his favored successor to keep running the agency for
   as long as possible before a Trump appointee is confirmed by the
   Senate.

   Cordray had announced earlier this month that he would resign by the
   end of this month. There is wide speculation that Cordray, a Democrat,
   is resigning in order to run for governor in his home state of Ohio.

   What CFPB does

   The CFPB was created as part of the laws passed following the 2008
   financial crisis and subsequent recession. The agency was given a broad
   mandate to be a watchdog for consumers when they deal with banks and
   credit card, student loan and mortgage companies, as well as debt
   collectors and payday lenders. Nearly every American who deals with
   banks or a credit card company or has a mortgage has been affected by
   new rules the agency put in place.

   Cordray used that mandate aggressively as its first director, which
   often made him a target for the banking industry's Washington lobbyists
   and congressional Republicans who believed Cordray was overreaching in
   his role, calling the CFPB a "rogue agency."

   As director, he also was able to extract billions of dollars in
   settlements from banks, debt collectors and other financial services
   companies for wrongdoing. When Wells Fargo was found to have opened
   millions of phony accounts for its customers, the CFPB fined the bank
   $100 million, the agency's largest penalty to date.