Rob Blackwell is the Washington Bureau Chief for American Banker. He has covered the financial services arena for more than a decade, working first as a reporter covering the GSEs, the banking regulators, and anti-money laundering, among other topics, and later as an editor during the worst crisis since the Great Depression.

He helped American Banker win a Jesse H. Neal Award for its coverage of deposit insurance reform, and has appeared on BBC, CNBC and C-SPAN as an expert on regulatory policy. His Twitter handle is @ABWashBureau

Mortgage Deal Proves More Whimper than Bang
February 9, 2012 After more than a year of debates, fits and starts, dramatic overtures and apparent missteps, the deal itself was a bit of an...

Lone Holdout from Servicer Settlement, Oklahoma Cuts Its Own Deal
February 9, 2012 Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt says his 49 counterparts exceeded their authority by pushing for principal reductions....

McConnell, Senate GOP to Support Court Challenge to Recess Appointments
February 6, 2012 Most Senate Republicans have said they will file a court brief supporting any legal challenge to recess appointments at the...

Justice Dept: Cordray Recess Appointment Was Legal
January 12, 2012 The Justice Department issued a critical legal opinion Thursday asserting that President Obama is allowed to make recess...

Why the CFPB Will Resonate on the Campaign Trail
January 12, 2012 Bank lobbyists tend to dismiss the importance of the consumer agency as a voting issue in the presidential campaign. Here's...

Date Named as CFPB's Deputy Director
January 5, 2012 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray said Thursday that he has appointed Raj Date as the agency's...

Obama to Recess Appoint Cordray to Director of CFPB
January 4, 2012 President Barack Obama is expected to announce Wednesday that he will recess appoint Richard Cordray to serve as director of...

Why Obama's Recess Appointment of Cordray Is a Mistake
January 4, 2012 President Obama's recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head of the CFPB will actually do more harm to the fledgling agency...

2011: The Year of Standing Still
December 28, 2011 Regulators were supposed to make progress in implementing the massive Dodd-Frank Act. Instead, we spent the time refighting...

Obama Taps Two More to Fill Fed Vacancies
December 27, 2011 President Obama announced Tuesday that he intends to nominate Jerome H. Powell and Jeremy Stein to the two vacancies on the...