WASHINGTON _ Richard Cordray announced Wednesday that he expects to step down before the end of the month as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Cordray was appointed by President Barack Obama as the first director of the bureau, which was created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law. Cordray's term was not set to expire until summer 2018.
President Donald Trump will get to nominate a replacement to head the bureau _ an agency that many Republicans have strongly opposed. The nomination requires Senate confirmation.
There has been widespread speculation that Cordray, a Democrat, will run for governor of his home state of Ohio. Cordray made no comment on his future in the email he sent to the bureau's staff announcing his plan to step down.
In his message, Corday touted new rules created by the bureau, including toughening mortgage safeguards to try to prevent a repeat of the subprime housing market crash. And he noted that the bureau has provided about $12 billion in refunds, mortgage principal reductions and other relief to nearly 30 million consumers since opening in 2011.
"I am confident that you will continue to move forward, nurture this institution we have built together, and maintain its essential value to the American public," Cordray told his colleagues.
"And I trust that new leadership will see that value also and work to preserve it _ perhaps in different ways than before, but desiring, as I have done, to serve in ways that benefit and strengthen our economy and our country," he said.
One of the bureau's fiercest critics, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), cheered the news of Cordray's imminent departure. Hensarling has urged Trump to fire Cordray and pushed legislation through the House that would sharply reduce the bureau's authority.
"We are long overdue for new leadership at the CFPB, a rogue agency that has done more to hurt consumers than help them," Hensarling said Wednesday. "The resignation of the bureau's director is an excellent opportunity to enact desperately needed reforms."
Cordray's departure could trigger a messy succession fight at the bureau.
The Obama-era creation has been praised by consumer advocates for high-profile enforcement actions that have led to billions of dollars in refunds and penalties. But Republicans argue that it is too powerful and limits Americans' access to credit.
It's unclear who would take over as acting director. And Democrats _ led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who conceived of the idea for such an agency _ are expected to mount a fierce campaign against whomever Trump nominates as a replacement.
The Dodd-Frank law, which created the bureau, says the deputy director becomes the acting head "in the absence or unavailability of the director."
David Silberman, associate director of the bureau's Research, Markets and Regulations Division, has been serving as acting deputy director since January 2016.
But the law is unclear about whether the deputy director would take over in the case of a director's resignation.
That could open the door for Trump to pick an outsider as acting director in accordance with the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. That person would run the agency while a nominee moved through what could be a lengthy Senate confirmation process.
The vacancy law allows the president to designate someone who already has been confirmed by the Senate to perform acting duties. That could be Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin, who would take on the CFPB duties in addition to his Treasury role.
There is precedent for such an arrangement. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner oversaw the bureau until Cordray became director in early 2012.
