Ohio Attorney General To Head Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Enforcement Arm

Bloomberg is reporting that Elizabeth Warren has tapped Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head up the all-important enforcement arm of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. General Cordray's hiring will not tend to put the consumer finance industry at ease. Nationally, Mr. Cordray has been one of the most outspoken Attorneys General involved in the multi-State foreclosure investigation, and he has been a vocal proponent for severely sanctioning mortgage servicers accountable for foreclosure related trangressions. To the extent Ms. Warren has been traveling the country and meeting with CEOs and management representatives in an effort to calm their nerves a bit, this move is likely to reverse any progress that has been made. However, there may be a silver lining. If General Cordray is working for the CFPB and enforcing Dodd-Frank, then he won't be hounding mortgage servicers over their handling of foreclosures and will not be participating in the multi-State investigation.

Regardless, to the extent anyone's vision of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau was of an agency that would not have an active enforcement arm, or that there would be no cooperation with the State Attorneys General, the Cordray hire should end those beliefs and that discussion.