Mulvaney’s BCFP One Year Later: Change and Continuity

Just one year ago, as you were contemplating what to do with your leftover Thanksgiving turkey, a storm was brewing at the agency formerly known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. On November 24, 2017, then-Director Richard Cordray resigned. His last act was to appoint his chief of staff, Leandra English, as the agency’s deputy director, with the expectation that English would become the next acting director. Later that day, President Trump named OMB Director Mick Mulvaney as acting director, and, two days later, a legal battle ensued in the DC Circuit. Since then, Acting Director Mulvaney has changed the name of the Bureau, declined operating funds from the Fed, publicly decried the Bureau’s prior mission, and rolled back supervisory, regulatory, and enforcement activities. In this Legal Update, we take a closer look at how the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (“BCFP”) looks one year later and what to expect in the year ahead.