Obama to nominate Cordray for consumer job

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama on Monday will nominate former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the new consumer financial watchdog agency, White House officials said.

The pick allows Obama to sidestep a heated battle for Senate confirmation he would have faced had he nominated Elizabeth Warren, who is credited with conceiving of the idea for the new consumer agency and championed its creation.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will open its doors on July 21 and will regulate products like credit cards and mortgages.

Cordray's selection will be announced at a White House event on Monday.

As a senior adviser to Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Warren has been tasked with setting up the new agency but became a lightning rod for criticism from conservatives for her outspokenness on financial industry practices that she believes harm consumers.

Cordray could also face resistance from Republicans in the Senate. He is a close ally of Warren and is also known as a vocal critic of the banking industry.

He has been working as part of Warren's team on the effort to set up the consumer agency.

While in Ohio, he was known as a leader among state attorneys general in a probe of dubious mortgage foreclosures practices.

Copyright Reuters, 2011