President Obama is expected to appoint Elizabeth Warren as an assistant to the president and special advisor to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner tasked with getting the new consumer protection bureau on its feet, a Democratic official said late Wednesday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Warren will report directly to Obama and Geithner as she leads the administration's work in setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. However, at this time, she will not be officially named as director of the agency.
Warren is viewed as a controversial pick by mortgage bankers who still remember comments she made back in 2007 likening yield spread premium payments to a "bribe" being paid to loan brokers from wholesalers.
Back then thousands of brokers took to the Internet, asking for her scalp.
Earlier this week reports were circulating that the White House might make Warren a recess appointment to formally head the CFPB, but the idea ran into resistance from Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris Dodd and several GOP senators.
According to American Banker, President Obama is expected to make a formal announcement on Warren as early as Thursday. The president may nominate Warren for the post next year after she has completed the task of setting up the new agency.
