President Trump is planning to drop his nomination for Jonathan McKernan to lead the Bureau for Financial Protection of Consumers, so that the Agency remains in the hands of a temporary director while the officials of Mr. Trump work to close the agency.
The Ministry of Finance said on Friday that the president instead was planning to appoint Mr. McKernan to serve as the Ministry of Interior Finance. Mr. Mckernan was nominated in February to serve as director of the consumer agency and witnessed that month During a confirmation hearing for the Senate banking committee. His appointment was approved by the committee, but was not yet taken over by the entire Senate.
A representative of the White House said that the president was planning to withdraw that nomination and, instead, to have Mr. McKernan fulfill the Treasury role.
Russell T. Vought, the director of the White House Budget Office, has been the acting director of the Consumer Bureau since the beginning of February. He has frozen most of the activities from the office and tried to dismiss 90 percent of his staff – a movement Federal courts are temporarily blocked. A panel with three judges of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is planned to hear oral arguments for that case next week.
The Consumer Bureau also released on Friday A formal notification of his intention to withdraw more than 60 policy statements and guidance documents. This would be the public interest by reducing compliance requirements to the companies that regulates the agency, Mr Vought said in the notification.
Bank trading groups praised the guidance flushing, while proponents of consumers reacted with alarm.
Better Markets, an interest group that is in favor Consumer complaints databaseWhat helps people to submit claims to companies about financial disputes. Consumers have collected hundreds of millions of dollars in reimbursements and other exemptions in response to complaints submitted to the Consumer Bureau.
“This is a calculated demolition of the tools that trust consumers and lawyers to protect themselves against financial abuse,” said Brady Williams, a lawyer for better markets.
The American Bankers Association said it was pleased to see the agency drastically again. Those documents were intended to help companies understand how the agency interpreted different laws, but the consumer agency often used them as a form of making stealth rule, the banking group said.
“This abuse of guidance causes unnecessary confusion for regulated entities,” said Rob Nichols, chief executive of the group. “We hope that today’s action marks a turning point.”
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