CFPB's No. 2 to Resign

Steven Antonakes, the No. 2 official at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is resigning from the agency, according to an internal agency memo.

Antonakes sent an email to staff on Thursday announcing his resignation as deputy director, citing his desire to spend time with his family.

"Having commuted from Boston for nearly five years, I have logged hundreds of thousands of miles and missed entirely too many class plays, teacher conference meetings, and little league games. Accordingly, I have decided to return home to Massachusetts and pursue opportunities that will ensure that I am home for dinner with my wife and family and can assist my five children with their homework," Antonakes wrote.

Antonakes did not say what his next move will be but his departure is a significant loss for the agency. Antonakes was among the early officials at the CFPB that helped it get off the ground beginning in 2010, and has served as its No. 2 for the past two years. Antonakes also has extensive experience as a bank regulator with close ties to Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry since both were previously Massachusetts banking commissioners.

"Despite having arrived with a deep background in this field, I have learned so much from you," said Antonakes in his memo to staff. "My time at the Bureau has been the apex of my 25 years in government and bank regulation. I have been blessed to do worthwhile and interesting work alongside, smart, tenacious, and dedicated public servants."

In his own email to staff, Director Richard Cordray said that Antonakes is "an enormous asset to the bureau."

"I have great respect for Steve's decision to move closer to his family given my own situation with a weekly interstate commute," Cordray wrote. " It is not easy to juggle work at the Bureau with family far away during the week, and Steve has done so incredibly well."

Cordray said that information about a successor to Antonakes would be released "in the coming weeks."