Trump appoints new head of financial watchdog
26 November 2017 AFP, Washington
US President Donald Trump on Friday appointed White House budget director Mick Mulvaney to head a financial watchdog that the administration has sought to overhaul as part of its deregulation push.
Mulvaney, who described the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) as a "sick, sad joke" in a 2014 interview, will serve as acting director until a permanent head is nominated and confirmed, according to a White House statement.
Since the start of his presidency Trump has decried financial rules and regulations, put in place through the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform legislation, to combat the excesses that led to the 2008 financial crisis.
Richard Cordray, the first director of the CFPB who had long been in the banking industry's crosshairs, announced last week he would step down by the end of the month, several months early.
