Richard Cordray is center stage not just at a brand-new regulator. The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will also play a crucial role at an agency born of bank runs and the Dust Bowl.
Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFPB director sits on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board of directors. That means Cordray, whom President Obama recess-appointed over GOP objections, will vote on a broad array of supervisory issues from the Basel capital regime to the proprietary trading ban known as the Volcker Rule.
Like everything CFPB-related, Cordray’s FDIC seat is turning heads. Critics of the bureau question what he will add to a board with a focus on safety and soundness regulation, while others say a consumer-oriented perspective has value.
Meanwhile, some say the controversy surrounding his hiring could have repercussions not just for the CFPB but also the FDIC.
