Debate Over Future of CFPB Slows Nomination of New Chair
The President Donald Trump administration is reportedly struggling to select nominees to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
In the meantime, two President Joe Biden administration appointees — Rohit Chopra of the CFPB and Michael Hsu of the OCC — continue to head those agencies, Bloomberg reported Friday (Jan. 24).
In the case of the CFPB, there is a split between Republicans who want to see a consumer watchdog lead the agency and deal with issues like debanking, and Republicans who want to eliminate the agency because they believe it lacks accountability, according to the report.
At the OCC, the decision about who should head the agency is awaiting a Senate vote on the nomination of Scott Bessent as Treasury secretary, the report said.
The nominees to head the CFPB and the OCC will also serve on the board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., per the report.
When Biden became president in 2021, he requested the resignation of Trump appointee Kathy Kraninger and received it shortly after taking office, according to the report.
One of the first executive orders that marked the first day of the Trump administration paused all pending regulations. By extension, that order paved the path to a reshaping of agencies that have been tasked with oversight of banking, PYMNTS reported Tuesday (Jan. 21).
The order applies to “all executive departments and agencies” while directing them to “not propose or issue any rule in any manner, including by sending a rule to the Office of the Federal Register (the ‘OFR’), until a department or agency head appointed or designated by the president after noon on Jan. 20, 2025, reviews and approves the rule.”
The readout is that new rulemaking is on hold until current administration heads are replaced.
It was reported Sunday (Jan. 19), the day before Trump’s inauguration, that his pick of Bessent as Treasury secretary was one of several nominations of pro-cryptocurrency figures to fill out his Cabinet.
Those selections mark a change from the Biden administration in which regulators warned of risks that come with banking digital asset companies.
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