Financial regulations

In a strongly worded memo to staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Tuesday, acting Director Mick Mulvaney indicated the bureau will value the concerns of companies it regulates to the same extent as consumers.

"I've told people from the day I walked in there, I wasn't there to burn the place down or blow it up," the consumer bureau's acting director said at a White House briefing.

The Senate Banking Committee had approved Powell already in December, but a revote was necessary after the Senate adjourned for the year without finalizing his confirmation.

Laurie Maggiano, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's program manager for servicing and secondary markets, died on Sunday.

The Trump administration's Financial Stability Oversight Council is likely to remove the systemically important financial institution label for the remaining nonbanks on the list, but it might consider adding other firms such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday withdrew a plan to conduct a web survey for its debt collection proposal while acting Director Mick Mulvaney reviews the rulemaking.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Monday that an attempt to oust Mick Mulvaney as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would raise "grave questions" about the constitutionality of the consumer agency.

When the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced plans to bring aboard political appointees, many viewed it as antithetical to an independent regulator. But technically there is nothing stopping him.

HUD's decision to stop endorsing Property Assessed Clean Energy will have little impact; the widest segment of FHA borrowers "would not qualify anyway."

Critics argue that the consumer bureau's independence is being undermined, and they worry that a precedent is being established that could hamper the autonomy of other U.S. financial regulators.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was the only member of the Senate Banking Committee to oppose the nomination of Federal Reserve Board Gov. Jerome Powell to lead the central bank.

The former bank CEO is widely expected to continue the recent push to implement a more industry-friendly agenda.

The Trump administration insisted Saturday that OMB Director Mick Mulvaney was the rightful interim leader of the CFPB, but Democrats said that the appointment was illegal. It remains unclear who is legally in charge.

If CFPB Director Richard Cordray does not leave soon — as has been widely expected — it may be that he has used rumors of his possible political aspirations to successfully keep Trump from firing him.

CFPB Director Richard Cordray sent a letter to President Trump Monday asking him to veto a Republican resolution to nullify the bureau's arbitration rule.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is broadening her probe into the data breach to look at whether the company should have disclosed the breach sooner and if it plans to claw back compensation.

The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act was created after 9/11 to serve as a crucial federal backstop for commercial real estate insurers, but an analysis of alternatives to fund the program reveals the continued challenges of measuring and predicting terror risk.

Federal regulators issued a proposal Tuesday that would increase the threshold at which commercial real estate transactions require an appraisal, a move that could give some lenders sizable relief.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen called the Treasury's report a "complicated document" that shared many of the central bank's objectives, including reducing regulatory burden without sacrificing safety and soundness.

More than 100 days into Trump’s presidency, financial regulators still lack key appointments. Here's why that matters.