Trump orders consumer protection agency to stop work

RND - Editorial Network Germany Trump orders consumer protection agency to stop work 5 hours • 1 minute reading time The administration of US President Donald Trump has ordered the consumer protection agency for the financial sector to almost completely stop its work. The newly appointed director of the White House budget office, Russell Vought, instructed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in an email on Saturday evening to stop work on proposed regulations and not to implement rules that had already been drawn up. All investigations would also be suspended and new ones would not be initiated. The agency, which was set up in 2011 under President Barack Obama in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, monitors and regulates financial products for consumers. It has long been a thorn in the side of conservatives as well as large banks and other financial service providers. The move is part of the new US administration's efforts to quickly limit the work of federal agencies that it considers superfluous. Vought announced on social media on Saturday evening that the CFPB would no longer receive funding from the Federal Reserve. The agency's current funding of $711.6 million is far too high. When the agency was set up, Congress decided to have it funded by the Federal Reserve to protect it from political influence. In his email, Vought said Trump appointed him acting director of the CFPB on Friday. Trump fired the previous director of the consumer protection agency, Rohit Chopra, on February 1. Under Chopra, the CFPB issued rules to limit overdraft fees by banks and proposed restrictions on data brokers who sell personal information such as social security numbers.