It appears Kathy Kraninger is determined to leave her mark on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, nixing yet another move made by her predecessor Mick Mulvaney.
On Thursday, the new CFPB director announced that she is lengthening the tenure of members serving on the Consumer Advisory Board and three other committees, allowing half of the existing membership to continue serving, and upping the number of in-person board meetings from two to three a year, according to an article in The Washington Post.
Kraninger’s move reverses previous action by Mulvaney, who dismantled the Consumer Advisory Board and two other committees that advise the agency on policy and economic and financial issues in June to the dismay of several consumer advocacy groups.
Congressional statute requires that the bureau establish advisory boards comprising banks, credit unions, community members and academics to help guide policy decisions, and that these boards meet at least twice a year.
When Mulvaney took over as acting director, he dissolved the existing boards and populated new ones with hand-picked members, and reduced their tenure from three years to one. He also took the Consumer Advisory Board down from 25 members to nine.
Kraninger, apparently, did not agree, reversing his actions to the delight of consumer groups who feared that Mulvaney’s changes reduced the diversity and depth of perspective board members could offer the bureau.
“I’ve seen firsthand how the Bureau benefits from the valuable input provided by committee members. I have also seen how the joint committee meeting is resulting in members sharpening their ideas by engaging in a thorough dialogue,” Kraninger said of the moves. “These enhancements demonstrate my commitment to ensuring that the Bureau’s advisory committees are helping to improve our work on behalf of consumers.”
In December, Kraninger nixed another of Mulvaney’s hotly contested moves, putting an end to the bureau’s name change to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection after the cost associated with the change was projected to total millions.
