The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Richard Cordray, is leaving his post at the end of the month.
Cordray confirmed this in a letter to staff this week.
“I wanted to share with each of you directly what I have told the senior leadership in the past few days, which is that I expect to step down from my position here before the end of the month,” Cordray wrote in a memo to his colleagues.
Cordray was appointed the first director of the CFPB in January of 2012 after the bureau was created in 2011 via Dodd-Frank to advocate for consumers against financial fraud and abuse. He was in the fifth year of a five-year term that started in July 2013.
Republican lawmakers have sought to drastically change the CFPB and the authority of the director. In the Financial Choice Act, which the House passed in June, the CFPB would become the Consumer Law Enforcement Agency. The bill limits the agency’s power and mandates that its director is removable at will by the president. Its budget would be controlled by Congress.
The Senate has not yet voted on the bill.
There has been speculation for months that Cordray might leave the bureau to run for Governor of Ohio. Cordray, a Democrat, served in Congress for one term as a representative from Ohio. He was also the Ohio Attorney General.
“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. Together, we have made a real and lasting difference that has improved people’s lives, notably: $12 billion in relief recovered for nearly 30 million Americans,” he wrote.
He said the CFPB provides an essential value to the American people.
“I trust that new leadership will see that value also and work to preserve it – perhaps in different ways than before but desiring, as I have done, to serve in ways that benefit and strengthen our economy and our country,” Cordray added.
Consumer Bankers Association President and CEO Richard Hunt commented on Cordray’s impending departure.
“I thoroughly appreciate Director Cordray’s willingness to serve as the first Director of the CFPB. While we might not have always seen eye-to-eye, he was accessible and we enjoyed a mostly cordial relationship,” Hunt said.
“Congress should use this vacancy as an opportunity to establish a bipartisan, Senate-confirmed Commission to uphold the Bureau’s important mission of consumer protection for the long-term. A Commission will establish transparency and bring a diversity of thought and additional insight to ensure rules are beneficial to consumers and the economy,” Hunt added.