Kate Berry has covered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for American Banker since 2016. She joined the publication in 2006 covering mortgage lending and the financial crisis. Berry also has covered big banks including Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo. She has won five awards from the Society of American Business Writers and Editors, and has worked at several news organizations including the Orange County Register, the Los Angeles Business Journal and the Associated Press. Berry began her career as a clerk at the New York Times.
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Lawmakers and regulators are cracking down on banks closing consumer accounts, but neither banks nor regulators have hard numbers on how big of a problem debanking really is — or why accounts are closed.
February 27 -
The Justice Department said in a legal brief that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will continue to exist, but said instead that the agency will have fewer employees and a reduced budget under the Trump administration.
February 25 -
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employees — most of whom are on administrative leave — were asked in an email to list what they accomplished last week. National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 335 said workers should list all the tasks they were told not to perform.
February 24 -
President Donald Trump issued an executive order Wednesday night disbanding of three bank and credit union advisory groups.
February 20 -
A federal magistrate judge is recommending that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's small business lending data collection rule be upheld, rejecting a challenge by merchant cash advance lenders.
February 19 -
The Trump administration's orders to stop supervisory exams at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are seen as a potential conflict of interest for Elon Musk, whose company X would have been overseen by the bureau when it launches its payments wallet.
February 19 -
The Trump administration has installed Jeffrey Clark at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Clark, a former environmental lawyer in the Justice Department in the first Trump administration, was indicted as part of the president's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
February 17 -
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson agreed to temporarily block the Trump administration from firing more CPFB employees and said the White House could not delete or destroy any of the bureau's data or databases.
February 14 -
Consumer and employees groups are seeking a restraining order against CFPB acting Director Russell Vought, arguing that he was unlawfully installed and has "no power to direct" the bureau.
February 14 -
The Trump administration's nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Jonathan McKernan, is seen as an institutionalist with a deep knowledge of policy. But whether he keeps the bureau shuttered or rebuilds it is uncertain.
February 14 -
On Thursday night, the Trump administration fired dozens of employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to an email obtained by American Banker. Most of the workers targeted had been hired by former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra.
February 14 -
The White House has tapped former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Director Jonathan McKernan to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and attorney Jonathan Gould to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency late Tuesday.
February 11 -
Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, the president was asked if he wanted to eliminate the bureau. "I would say, yeah," Trump replied. "Because we're trying to get rid of waste, fraud and abuse."
February 11 -
A federal appeals court in Texas has delayed the implementation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's small-business data reporting rule slated to go into effect in July. How the Trump administration proceeds from here could be instructive on its approach to other CFPB rules.
February 10 -
Acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Russell Vought ordered bureau employees to "stand down" and perform no work, effective immediately.
February 10 -
Russell Vought, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new acting director, ordered staff to stop all work and closed the agency's headquarters for a week.
February 9 -
Newly-confirmed Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, a key architect of Project 2025, has been charged with overseeing an agency Republicans have vowed to eliminate, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
February 7 -
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, now led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, agreed to temporarily halt enforcement and litigation over its medical debt rule, handing the banking industry an immediate reprieve.
February 7 -
A former senior advisor at the Federal Reserve Board was arrested and charged with economic espionage for conspiring to steal trade secrets and sell them to China for $450,000.
February 3 -
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was named to be acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has told the agency's staff to put a halt to all rules, enforcement actions and hiring.
February 3
