Ian McKendry

A bipartisan Senate alliance working on a bank regulatory relief bill appeared even stronger Tuesday as it worked to minimize changes in the interest of moving the legislative package to the Senate floor.

Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney backed a congressional effort to overturn the agency's short-term lending rule, said he planned to install more political appointees and acknowledged a possible prank played on him.

The ill will between Democrats and Republicans in the controversy over appointing an acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief adds a new wrinkle to bipartisan efforts to pass regulatory relief.

Jelena McWilliams, the chief legal officer for Fifth Third Bancorp, will be nominated as the next chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the White House said late Thursday.

The financial services industry has cheered a proposed reduction in the corporate tax rate, but a lower rate could force Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to write down assets, increasing the odds that the companies will need Treasury support.

District Judge Timothy J. Kelly ruled Tuesday that Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney was the legal interim head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, denying a request by Deputy Director Leandra English to block the appointment.

Employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are privately questioning why outgoing director Richard Cordray abruptly tapped a 34-year-old chief of staff with no enforcement, supervisory or legal experience to head the embattled agency after he resigned.

In his nomination hearing, Jerome Powell was quick to assure Republican senators of his regulatory relief credentials. But Democrats still fear that he and other Trump appointees might upend the Dodd-Frank Act.

OMB Director Mick Mulvaney said he would "fix" the CFPB by ensuring it protected consumers without cutting off access to financial services. His comments came as a federal judge declined to rule yet on the legality of Mulvaney's appointment.

President Trump has tapped Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney as interim head of the CFPB. He has taken tough stances on the CFPB, its payday lending rule, housing finance reform and other issues pending before the agency.

The Trump administration insisted Saturday that OMB Director Mick Mulvaney was the rightful interim leader of the CFPB, but Democrats said that the appointment was illegal. It remains unclear who is legally in charge.

CFPB Director Richard Cordray abruptly announced Friday that he would leave at the end of the day, giving the reins of the agency to a new deputy director.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg raised concerns about provisions that would significantly increase the systemic risk threshold for large banks, as well as one that would change the calculation for the supplementary leverage ratio.

The agency's Quarterly Banking Profile said banks earned $47.9 billion in the third quarter, helped by a 7.4% increase in net interest income from the previous year.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., sent a letter to OCC officials suggesting that Bank of Tokyo was trying to avoid an investigation by New York examiners when it switched to a federal charter.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau settled a $1.1 million enforcement action on Monday with Xerox Business Services, alleging that its software misreported borrower information to credit reporting agencies.

The White House and congressional GOP leaders are eyeing a tight window between tax reform passage and the 2018 midterms to pass housing finance reform. And with key policymakers readying their exit, the effort could be the most concerted push yet.

An OCC official said Friday that a change in tone in Washington means banks can expect a softening of regulations soon.

The Senate confirmed Joseph Otting, a former business partner of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The resignation of CFPB Director Richard Cordray gives President Trump the chance to name a director who could roll back agency rules and supervisory policies.