CFPB director nomination hearing: Live coverage

Published July 22, 2026 2:20 PM

Updated July 23, 2026 11:23 AM

2 Min Read

Key insight: Johnson is widely expected to curb enforcement and reduce regulations, following in the footsteps of his predecessor, acting CFPB Director Russell Vought.
What's at stake: Johnson is likely to fast-track rule changes, including gutting loan officer compensation limits, unwinding diversity-related lending rules and defunding consumer education programs.
Forward look: The CFPB is expected to align with bank interests, including moving toward "tailored rulemaking" and potentially granting banks more control over open banking data fees.

The Senate Banking Committee Thursday will hold a confirmation hearing for Brian Johnson to serve as permanent head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he served as deputy director during Trump's first term.

As deputy director, Johnson spearheaded efforts to curb enforcement and loosen regulations. He is widely expected to maintain a functionally weakened CFPB, a favorable prospect for financial institutions.

Johnson signed an ethics pledge last week in which he agreed to recuse himself for the next two years from any matters involving Capital One Financial, where he has worked as a vice president of U.S. card compliance. The ethics pledge also states that Johnson won't "participate in matters affecting his financial interests or those of his family without a written waiver or regulatory exemption."

Johnson has advocated for the CFPB to operate strictly within its statutory limits and is expected to continue the massive pullback in enforcement of hundreds of top banks. Johnson has stated publicly that the CFPB is "ripe for reform," and also that the bureau is capable of "great good" if it is properly structured and managed.

Even before his expected confirmation, Johnson's pending arrival has had an immediate impact.

A federal court recently granted a stay in litigation regarding a proposed reduction-in-force specifically to allow Johnson, if confirmed, the opportunity to decide whether to proceed with, modify, or abandon a plan to cut hundreds of staff positions. The CFPB's acting Director Russell Vought has sought to slash the bureau's staff by two-thirds. Vought is required by law to relinquish his role on Aug. 1.

Since President Trump took office in January 2025, the administration has effectively neutralized the agency, slashed nearly all actions taken under the Biden administration and moved its headquarters. The CFPB is still locked in a contentious legal battle with its union over job cuts. In addition, the CFPB has delayed a controversial order, until after Johnson's confirmation process is complete, that requires roughly 450 regional employees to relocate to Washington, D.C., or face dismissal.

The CFPB's staff has already been radically cut under the Trump administration due to attrition. The bureau currently has 1,071 employees, down from 1,750 in early 2025.

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19m ago

Committee approves Phelen, Crews on partisan lines

By John Heltman

Bloomberg News

After coming out of an executive session that lasted nearly an hour, the Senate Banking Committee voted to approve Christopher Phelan as the new chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers and John Crews to serve as chair of the National Credit Union Administration by a vote of 13-11.

The nominations will now go to the full Senate for a vote, likely after the Senate returns from its August recess.

The committee tacked an executive session to vote on Phelan and Crews' nominations onto an already-scheduled confirmation hearing late Wednesday, prompting the committee to go into an extended closed session.

Phelan, an economist at the University of Minnesota, hewed closely to the president's vision during his confirmation hearing last month. He had expressed questions in the past about the efficacy of fractional reserve banking, a cornerstone of modern finance, calling the practice "problematic."

1h 6m ago

Confirmation hearing goes to closed session ahead of vote

By Kate Berry

Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Bloomberg News

As Thursday's confirmation hearing was just beginning to get under way, Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., moved to go into a closed session. Sen. Tim Scott, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, agreed and the hearing room was cleared.

Last night, both senators were briefed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the nominees, Warren said.

"We have both been briefed on the FBI background investigations for the nominees that we are scheduled to vote on this morning, and I appreciate you're always talking these issues through," Warren said. "I'm not going to get into the details, given the limitations and the rules on what can be discussed in a public session, but the briefing left me with some significant questions that have not yet been answered."

Warren proposed postponing the nomination hearing "until we have confidence that the FBI has run down all the answers."

"All of our colleagues on this committee, Democrats and Republicans, have a right to be fully up to speed, fully informed on these issues before being asked to vote for or against nominees," Warren said.

Thursday's hearing included an executive session to vote on the nominations of John Crews to serve as chair of the National Credit Union Administration and Christopher Phelan to serve as Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Following that executive session, the committee was to hold an open session to consider Brian Johnson, a former Capital One Financial executive and former deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protections Bureau, as director of the agency. The panel is also slated to consider Abby Warren to serve as assistant Secretary of Commerce and Irving Dennis to serve as Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

It was not immediately clear which of the nominees Warren was referring to when she related her concerns raised from the FBI briefing.

In his opening statement, Scott praised Crews and Phelan for their dedication to public service.

"President Trump was elected to bring down costs, restore accountability and put common sense back at the center of government," Scott said. "To do that, he needs qualified leaders in place."

21h 26m ago

Johnson expected to rescind loan officer compensation rule

By Kate Berry

House Financial Services Committee

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director-designate Brian Johnson is expected to accelerate pending Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposals, including a proposed rule issued last year that would rescind loan originator compensation requirements under the Truth in Lending Act.

The loan officer compensation rule is a set of regulations designed to prevent mortgage brokers and loan officers from steering consumers into high-cost loans for personal gain.

Critically, a CFPB under Johnson would likely align with Trump's executive order aimed at reducing regulations. If confirmed, Johnson also will inherit a significant regulatory agenda that includes issuing an interim open banking rule.

Though the CFPB finalized an open banking rule under the Biden administration, the agency was immediately sued by the Bank Policy Institute. The trade group has said the CFPB exceeded its authority and thinks banks such as JPMorgan Chase should be allowed to charge fees for access to consumer financial data rights. The CFPB sided with industry, leading to a stay in the litigation while a new rulemaking moves forward. Revisions to the open banking rule, known as 1033 for its section in the Dodd Frank Act, may include more robust standards for how to secure data and which parties bear liability for unauthorized access or data breaches.

Johnson has a slew of other major rulemakings on his plate. Under Vought, the CFPB has proposed nearly a dozen rules or amendments that Johnson would potentially get across the finish line.

One of the more contentious rules finalized under Vought amends the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to remove any reference to so-called "disparate impact," a test used to uncover instances of unintended discrimination. The changes to ECOA also modified how the federal government views ways in which consumers are discouraged from applying for credit. It also narrowed the eligibility requirements for special purpose credit programs. Johnson is expected to continue the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle so-called diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

He also is expected to revisit credit card late fees, and in another potential rule change, remove any reference in the rule that established the CFPB's Civil Penalty Fund, which reimburses consumers, but will no longer allocate funds for consumer education and financial literacy programs.

The bureau has primary oversight responsibility over banks with $10 billion in assets, encompassing more than 250 large banks. Vought, who testified last week for the first time as the bureau's acting director, said he expects the CFPB to conduct 70 supervisory exams this year of large banks.

The bureau under Johnson also may explore ways to reduce regulations on large banks by raising the supervisory threshold to $21 billion in assets or more, Vought told lawmakers.

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