WASHINGTON, June 10 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated former financial regulator Brian Johnson to lead the federal government’s top watchdog for consumer financial protection, according to a notice from the White House.
Johnson, currently a senior executive at Capital One, previously served as the number two official at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during Trump’s first term. In 2022, he joined the politically connected Washington consultancy Patomak Global Partners.
Last year, Trump and senior officials sought to abolish the agency and the White House is now moving to reduce it to a fraction of its former size.
Regarded as an expert in consumer financial law, Johnson was also a vocal conservative critic of the CFPB. He has testified before the U.S. Congress in favor of efforts to end the agency’s financial independence and reduce its funding, while also criticizing the agency’s regulations and enforcement actions.
Efforts to reach Johnson on Wednesday were unsuccessful. The Consumer Bankers Association, a principal industry lobby group, welcomed Johnson’s nomination, saying he had a “tenured background” steeped in policy.
Republicans have accused the CFPB of being a politicized burden on free enterprise while Democrats and agency defenders say damaging the agency amounts to a giveaway to industry at the expense of consumers.
The CFPB is currently led on an interim basis by Russell Vought, President Trump’s budget director, who has openly denounced the CFPB and initially vowed to shut it down. As those efforts have stalled in court, the administration now says it expects to reduce the CFPB workforce substantially.
Congress created the CFPB in 2010 to protect consumers from predatory practices in the financial services sector that also helped underpin the 2008 financial crash.
(Reporting by Douglas Gillison, Costas Pitas and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Jasper Ward and David Gregorio)
Comments