Richard Corday, President Obama’s choice to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said Tuesday that credit unions and banks that follow the rules will benefit from regulations that punish bad actors.
“Better regulations help honest businesses,’’ he said during testimony at the confirmation hearing on his nomination held by the Senate Banking Committee.
Cordray also noted that the bureau’s efforts to combine the disclosure forms required by the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act would make things easier for lenders and give consumers more information, and was an example of a regulation that is a “win win.’’
He said credit unions and community banks would be able to better compete when the CFPB regulates nonbank institutions because this would level the playing field. He noted that many nonbanks helped cause the financial crisis because they “made loans that were destined to fail.’’
Several Democrats noted that the bureau won’t be able to regulate nonbanks until a director has been confirmed.
In response to a question from Sen., Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general who was defeated for reelection last year, said he had “no plans to run for any political office.’’
And he promised that the bureau won’t make decisions based on political considerations because politics has “no place,” in the bureau’s work.
Cordray noted that he had good relations with the banking and credit union trade associations in Ohio.
The Ohio Bankers League endorsed his nomination. Ohio Credit Union League President Paul Mercer stopped short of endorsing Cordray but wrote Cordray when he was nominated that “I am confident that, given the opportunity, you will diligently represent the mission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s mission and purpose as its director."
Ohio Credit Union League General Counsel John Kozlowski was at the hearing and Corday introduced him to the senators before his testimony.
No vote has been scheduled but Senate Republicans have vowed to block any nomination without structural changes to the bureau’s governance. The GOP-controlled House already has passed such legislation.
