American Banker: CFPB’s Precarious Future Under Trump

Here (free content, I think). Excerpt:

While Republican lawmakers are likely to focus on efforts to replace the agency's single director with a bipartisan five-member commission, as well as subject it to the Congressional appropriations process, Trump may seek to take more immediate action once he takes office in January. Some said he could either pressure Cordray to leave or seek to do so directly given a recent appeals court ruling that allows a president to remove a CFPB director without cause.

"Even if the CFPB does appeal, Trump could remove Cordray and appoint a new director who would drop the appeal," said Justin Schardin, director of the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Whether Trump could succeed is unclear, and is likely to turn on whether the CFPB can convince a higher court to delay a decision in the case of PHH Corp v. CFPB.

"As long as the PHH decision is stayed pending further appeals, the director can only be removed for 'inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office,'" said Benjamin K. Olson, a partner at BuckleySandler and a former CFPB deputy assistant director for the Office of Regulations. "That is a high standard."

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[Consumer Bankers Association Chair Richard] Hunt called a bipartisan commission structure for the CFPB "a no-brainer" and chided Democrats for not agreeing earlier to create a commission structure, which would have ensured "the CFPB would be in existence for as far as the eye can see."

"Now [the CFPB] is in jeopardy," Hunt said. "It is ironic that here we are at the CBA as defenders of the CFPB because the last thing we want is a whipsaw effect every two years."

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