PYMNTS.COM – Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Kathy Kraninger handed in her resignation Wednesday (Jan. 20) at the request of U.S. President Joe Biden, newly sworn in as the 46th U.S. president, Bloomberg Law reported.
I support the Constitutional prerogative of the President to appoint senior officials within the government who support the President’s policy priorities, which ensures our government is responsive to the will of the people as expressed in presidential elections.
The President Donald Trump appointee announced her resignation on Twitter about one hour after Biden was inaugurated. Kraninger, who was appointed in December 2018, said she would leave her post effective immediately.
“I support the Constitutional prerogative of the President to appoint senior officials within the government who support the President’s policy priorities, which ensures our government is responsive to the will of the people as expressed in presidential elections,” Kraninger said in a letter to Biden, which she posted on Twitter.
While at the CFPB, Kraninger rolled back payday lender regulations, finalized debt collection laws and made changes to consumer finance regulations, Bloomberg Law reported. Under her leadership, enforcement stalled in comparison to the CFPB’s former director, Richard Cordray, appointed by former President Barack Obama. During her two-year term, the CFPB collected roughly $1.5 billion in consumer relief. Cordray’s CFPB secured more than $12 billion in consumer relief over more than five years.
Biden has appointed Rohit Chopra, commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the CFPB’s former student loan watchdog, to a five-year term as head of the agency, PYMNTS reported. Chopra is expected to run the CFPB with a stronger hand, following the landscape laid out by Cordray and the CFPB’s creator Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Although Kraniger’s appointment was through 2023, a Supreme Court rule challenged the CFPB’s structure in June and found it unconstitutional, giving Biden the ability to appoint someone new, Bloomberg Law reported.
It was anticipated that Biden would appoint a new CFPB director. The CFPB has been tasked with enforcing financial regulations and protecting consumers. Chopra, a Wharton-trained MBA, previously worked as a McKinsey consultant before moving into government.
