President Barack Obama intends to nominate former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to lead a new consumer financial protection bureau that was a central feature of a law that overhauled banking regulations. Obama plans to announce the nomination formally on Monday, the White House said in a statement Sunday.
In choosing Cordray, Obama bypassed Elizabeth Warren, a favourite of liberal Democrats and consumer groups, who has been assembling the agency as a special adviser to the White House and to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
The agency will officially begin its oversight and regulatory work on July 21. Its role is to be a government watchdog over mortgages, credit cards and other forms of lending.
"Richard Cordray has spent his career advocating for middle-class families, from his tenure as Ohio's attorney general, to his most recent role as heading up the enforcement division at the CFPB and looking out for ordinary people in our financial system," Obama said in a statement.
Cordray would have to be confirmed by the Senate. Warren, who is considered the architect of the consumer bureau, faced opposition in the Senate and would have had a difficult time wining confirmation.