Richard Cordray, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has announced his resignation.
Cordray made the announcement in an email to CFPB employees this morning. He said he plans to step down at the end of the month.
“As I have said many times, but feel just as much today as I ever have, it has been a joy of my life to have the opportunity to serve our country as the first director of the Consumer Bureau by working alongside all of you here,” he wrote. “I am confident that you will continue to move forward, nurture this institution we have built together, and maintain its essential value to the American public. And I trust that new leadership will see that value also and work to preserve it.”
There was no word whether Cordray plans to enter the race for governor of Ohio, as has been rumored for several months. Cordray was formerly the attorney general of Ohio.
He was appointed as head of the CFPB in 2013. His five-year term was due to end next July.
Cordray had repeatedly butted heads with the Republicans in Congress and President Trump, most recently over a proposed rule that would ban arbitration clauses in consumer lending agreements. Congress overturned the rule and despite a personal appeal from Cordray, the president signed the bill into law.
The move was cheered by Rep. Jeb Hensarling [R-Texas], chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, who himself is retiring.
“We are long overdue for new leadership at the CFPB, a rogue agency that has done more to hurt consumers than help them,” Hensarling said in a statement.
Cordray’s resignation will allow the president to appoint someone more like-minded to the top consumer protection post in the country. What this means for a proposed debt collection rule remains to be seen. The CFPB was due to release the proposed rule in the coming months, but that could now be delayed by Cordray’s departure and whether his successor will deem the rule a priority to continue moving forward with it.
Reports are starting to float about possible successors to Cordray. From one published report:
Republicans are floating a handful of agency critics as possible contenders for the post, including House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling [R-Texas]. Keith Noreika, the outgoing acting head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, is also mentioned along with Todd Zywicki, a law professor at George Mason University. All have fiercely opposed the bureau’s approach to regulation and enforcement, with Hensarling having called on Trump to fire Cordray.
