President Obama is scheduled to sign the financial regulatory overhaul bill tomorrow and among credit union advocates and other groups there is much wondering about who will be the first head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Representatives of several industry trade groups, including CUNA and NAFCU, have been invited to the bill signing. The bill, which was passed by the Senate last week and the House last month, expands the government's role in regulating financial services. It creates the CFPB, which will be housed in the Federal Reserve, and gives the Fed the power to regulate interchange fees.
Several consumer and labor groups have recommended that the Obama administration appoint Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren, who came up with the idea for the CFPB.
The AFL-CIO said in a statement that Warren is the only candidate "uniquely qualified and equipped to head this new agency."
Besides Warren, the other people most often mentioned for the position are: Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Michael Barr and Gene Kimmelman, the Justice Department's chief counsel for competition policy and intergovernmental relations.
