The Trump administration has done its best to neuter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, giving large banks a reprieve from aggressive enforcement and new rules. With Joe Biden ascending to the White House, Wall Street is worried it will be quickly resurrected.
Thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year, Biden will be able to fire Kathy Kraninger, the watchdog’s Republican director, even though her term isn’t complete -- a move likely to happen in the weeks after the inauguration. The banking industry has reason to fear that a new chief will return the agency to its days of meting out stiff sanctions on lenders and credit card companies.
