The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is losing Raj Date, its deputy director and the No. 2 person on its executive team.
Jennifer Howard, a spokesperson for the CFPB, said “Raj has no current plans for his career after the CFPB, other than to spend more time with his family.”
This executive change is occurring at a time when the agency is just two months from rolling out the final qualified-mortgage rule and other financial services requirements that are expected to take up a great deal of the bureau’s time.
Analysts with Compass Point Research & Trading said Date plans to leave his post on Jan. 31, ending a 2-year stint with the bureau, where he first made a name for himself as a potential pick for the first director post.
That position, of course, went to Richard Cordray, but Compass Point’s Isaac Boltansky says Date – who led the bureau until Cordray’s emergence – was largely suspected of being the next director at the end of Cordray’s recess appointment in 2013.
“This decision brings uncertainty to the leadership of the CFPB in the longer-term, but a degree of uncertainty to card regulations in the medium-term. The CFPB is still faced with a considerable amount of credit card related regulations and Date appeared well-positioned to help lead those efforts and help coordinate the process with covered entites,” Boltansky wrote.
“Instead, Date will leave at the conclusion of the Qualified Mortgage rulemaking and others – likely Marla Blow, the Assistant Director for Card and Payment Markets – will spearhead credit card efforts in 2013 such as the examination of mandatory arbitration clauses,” he added
Date also was known for his Wall Street credentials since he spent time pre-CFPB at Capital One and Deutsche Bank (DB).
