Newly Designated CFPB Acting Chair Freezes All Agency Operations

President Trump designated Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Acting Director immediately suspended all CFPB activities.

According to an email to CFPB staff obtained by Bloomberg Law, Secretary Bessent ordered the agency to cease all rulemaking, communications, litigation and other activities and called on the CFPB to (i) "suspend the effective dates" for all final rules that have not taken effect; (ii) refrain from approving or issuing any proposed or final rules or formal and informal guidance; (iii) pause all pending litigation, with attorneys instructed they were only empowered to seek continuances of existing cases; (iv) cease opening any new enforcement investigations and settlements or continue existing ones; (v) cease all public communications, including the publication of research papers and (vi) stop any "material agreements, including related to employee matters or contractors."