Obama Appoints Cordray to Head CFPB

President Barack Obama appointed Richard Cordray to direct the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this morning in a ceremony at the Rose Garden.

The appointment is a very significant event for the unbanked marketplace because it frees up the CFPB to begin its work with prepaid cards and other financial products utilized by such consumers. Until now, the CFPB was forced to tread regulatory water without a full Director. With Cordray in place, the CFPB will now begin to make more hires.

People within the Bureau have said that prepaid cards will be third in line for their initial roll out. The Bureau has scores of products to supervise (as well as enforce and write rules) and this intention signals just how much importance they place on the cards.

Cordray was formerly the 49th Attorney General of Ohio. He first established himself with his work to thwart the Klu Klux Klan in Ohio.

Richard Cordray, at left, pursues his fifth Jeopardy championship in 1987.

Cordray has a record of fighting the abuses of the big banks. On behalf of several of Ohio’s state pension funds, he filed a suit against Bank of America alleging that there were inadequate disclosures made by the bank when it acquired Merrill Lynch. In 2010, he won a $9 million settlement against AIG.

He is also a five-time undefeated Jeopardy champion.