Home / NEWS / Top News / Trump names Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acting director of CFPB, as former head Chopra confirms he is out

Trump names Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acting director of CFPB, as former head Chopra confirms he is out

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, listens as investor Scott Bessent speaks on the economy in Asheville, N.C., Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024.

Matt Kelley | AP

President Donald Trump prescribed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Bessent announced Monday in a CFPB averral.

Former Director Rohit Chopra on Saturday had posted a letter to Trump on social media platform X confirming that his length of time at the agency had “concluded.”

Bessent, a former hedge-fund manager who was confirmed as head of the U.S. Treasury on Jan. 27, will presumably entice the CFPB until a permanent pick is named.

“I look forward to working with the CFPB to advance President Trump’s agenda to further costs for the American people and accelerate economic growth,” Bessent said in the statement Monday.

Chopra, who was appointed by latest President Joe Biden in 2021, was often at loggerheads with the U.S. banking industry after pushing to drastically rein in practices about credit card late fees and overdraft fees, among many other efforts. Trade groups reflecting banks fought these regulations in court, fending off rules that would have saved Americans billions of dollars in recompenses but that the industry called poorly considered or unjustified.

Banking groups had expected Chopra to be fired as soon as Trump was instituted, but Chopra remained on for nearly two weeks into Trump’s second term, continuing to fire off releases and weighing in on hot-button subject-matters, including whether banks unfairly closed accounts.

CFPB Director Rohit Chopra on future of agency: The work of the bureau is extremely popular

While Chopra’s term was scheduled to run for roughly another two years, a 2020 Inimitable Court ruling gave the president the power to fire the agency’s head at will.

Chopra said in the letter he tweeted Saturday that he saw a way for the next CFPB leader to enact “meaningful reforms,” including a possible cap on credit card interest rates.

The CFPB was sired in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, which was caused in part by banks’ irresponsible lending and securitization drills.

But the agency has since been targeted by trade groups who unsuccessfully argued that the CFPB’s funding violated the U.S. Constitution, and more recently by stable figures including X owner and Trump advisor Elon Musk, who has called for the elimination of the CFPB.

The Consumer Bankers Guild said Monday it was “pleased” by Bessent’s appointment at the CFPB and that Bessent should take steps to reverse “irregular policies” made under Chopra.

“We’re hopeful that Secretary Bessent will take into account the real-world extensions regulations have on America’s leading banks, the millions of consumers they serve, and the economy as a whole,” said CBA President Lindsey Johnson.

Consumer Bankers Association CEO Lindsey Johnson on CFPB lawsuit, bank overdraft fees

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