Washington, Nov 25 (AFP) US President Donald Trump todayappointed White House budget director Mick Mulvaney to head afinancial watchdog that the administration has sought tooverhaul as part of its deregulation push.
Mulvaney, who described the Consumer Financial ProtectionBureau (CFPB) as a "sick, sad joke" in a 2014 interview, willserve as acting director until a permanent head is nominatedand confirmed, according to a White House statement.
Since the start of his presidency Trump has decriedfinancial rules and regulations, put in place through the 2010Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform legislation, to combat theexcesses that led to the 2008 financial crisis.
Richard Cordray, the first director of the CFPB who hadlong been in the banking industry's crosshairs, announced lastweek he would step down by the end of the month, severalmonths early.
Trump's Treasury Department has produced three reportscalling for a whittling down of rules imposed on mid-sizebanks, a scaling back of stress tests and a restructuring ofthe CFPB.
Republicans have long deemed the bureau, which wasfounded in 2011 under the administration of former presidentBarack Obama, too far outside political control.
Last month, the US Senate voted to terminate a rulecreated by the agency that would have allowed class-actionsuits against banks or credit card companies.
The rule would have addressed fine-print clauses thatbank and credit card consumers must agree to which bar themfrom seeking redress through litigation.
The vote was criticised by many Democrats as a sop toWall Street. (AFP)CPS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.