Bessent Named Acting CFPB Director

WASHINGTON—The Trump Administration has named Scott Bessent acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to a report from Bloomberg.

The move is one applauded by those within credit unions, including one D.C. insider who contends the appointment hits the regulatory “reset button.”

Scott Bessent

The decision comes on the heels CFPB director Rohit Chopra’s resignation, and on the Senate confirming Bessent Treasury Secretary by a 68-29 vote.

Bessent’s dual role is expected to bring a strategic shift as he steps into the CFPB leadership amid ongoing discussions about the agency's regulatory practices. Chopra led the agency since May 2, 2018.

“For credit unions this gives us the opportunity to push the reset button—that we will have hopefully a director who understands what over regulation and punitive rules do to our industry…The negative impact it has and our ability to serve our members,” said DCUC Chief Advocacy Officer Jason Stverak. “We look forward to working with Mr. Bessent as he takes over as acting director of the CFPB. We hope the agency will rein in the agency’s recent excessive over regulation that has negatively impacted credit unions. The CFPB should return to its original mission and trust credit unions to serve our members.”

Washington credit union advocate John McKechnie said a change in leadership at the CFPB was a certainty the minute President Trump took the oath of office last week.

“The only surprise was how long it took him to make the change,” McKechnie said. “Even some of the Bureau’s most ardent supporters on the Democratic side of the aisle will privately acknowledge it has been polarizing. Maybe the new acting director can turn the heat down. An emphasis on protecting consumers, instead of trying to make decisions for them, would be welcome.”  

Washington insiders had also suggested the new Administration might tap Russell Vought, President Trump’s pick to head the Office of Management and Budget, to be interim CFPB director.

“I think that it may make more sense to have the Treasury Secretary be the acting CFPB director,” America’s Credit Unions Chief Advocacy Officer Carrie Hunt told CUToday.info last week.

Hunt told CUToday.info that out of the gate ACU will want to work with the new acting director to make sure the Bureau stops any sort of rulemaking or enforcement orders and “takes a look at what it's doing—really reviews whether its actions conform with their authority under Dodd-Frank.”