Here’s the profile of the latest high-level CFPB appointee:

Rajeev V. Date, Raj served as a Managing Director in the Financial Institutions Group at Deutsche Bank Securities and led its investment banking coverage for the largest U.S.-based banks and thrifts. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Mr. Date served as Senior Vice President for Corporate Strategy and Development at Capital One Financial, where he led M&A development efforts across the U.S. banking and specialty finance markets. He began his business career in the financial … institutions practice of the consulting firm McKinsey & Company. He has had a long and varied career in and around U.S. financial institutions – as a strategy consultant, as a bank executive, and on Wall Street. He has also served as an Attorney, in both private and government practice. Mr. Date served as Director of Prosper Marketplace, Inc. He serves as Chairman and Executive Director of Cambridge Winter Center for Financial Institutions Policy. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the South Asian American Forum. Mr. Date is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley (highest honors), and the Harvard Law School (magna cum laude).

Late breaking  news:

The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday announced more hires for senior positions at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Raj Date was picked to serve as associate director for research, markets and regulations for the bureau, which is part of the sweeping financial regulatory overhaul that Congress approved last summer. Date has worked at Capital One Financial, Deutsche Bank, and the Cambridge Winter Center, a nonprofit organization.

Patricia McCoy will head the mortgage- and home-equity markets team. McCoy previously worked as the director of the Insurance Law Center at the University of Connecticut School of Law. She also was a partner at the law firm of Mayer, Brown in Washington, D.C., and served on the Consumer Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board.

Elizabeth Warren hired one today.  From the story:

Elizabeth Warren, the White House adviser charged with setting up the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has hired Corey Stone to head a unit that will write rules for credit information firms.

Stone, 54, is the former chief executive of Pay Rent, Build Credit, Inc., a credit bureau designed to allow consumers to build credit histories by documenting rent and bill payment, rather than by incurring debt.

“I’m joining the CFPB. I’m excited about being here,” Stone said in a telephone interview, confirming the appointment.

A Kentucky lawmaker encouraged those asking for a ban of payday loans to offer competition:

Gooch also wondered why some organizations supporting HB 182 — including AARP of Kentucky and a coalition of religious groups — don’t step up to provide the service.

“Maybe you want to loan to these folks at 36 percent,” he said.

In Mississippi:

The Mississippi Senate on Wednesday gave final passage to a bill designed to reduce fees on payday loans, sending it to the governor’s desk.

Eight of the 52 senators voted against the bill, which passed the House on Monday.

A bill banning payday lending in Kentucky died in a legislative subcommittee yesterday:

“It’s done,’’ said a disappointed Rep. Darryl Owens, a Louisville Democrat and the sponsor of House Bill 182. “You can stick a fork in it.”

The House Banking and Insurance Committee voted 13-10 to reject HB 182, which would have limited annual interest on such loans to 36 percent.

There’s a new law in Britain that dictates payday lenders advertise the APR.   We’ve been doing that for more than ten years.

A new description of Elizabeth Warren from the Poughkeepsie Journal.   I’m waiting for someone to says she’s the “cop-on-the-beat guru guardian.”

That’s how much the GOP budget would cut the CFPB.  From a story just posted at the Huffington Post:

The language included in the House GOP’s budget proposal for 2011 would restrict the CFPB’s annual budget to $80 million– a major cut from the $143 million the agency expects to spend as it hires staff and implements new systems to get off the ground.

——————–

The Republican attack on the CFPB’s funding would only apply to this year, but would make launching the new agency very difficult, and send a very aggressive signal about Congress’ intent to follow through on the bill it passed in July. Regulations cannot be enforced if regulators do not have the budget to hire staff.

Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)  in an article on TPMblog about his proposal to move the CFPB to the Fed where it would have great oversight: 

“I’m not a big proponent of the agency but I think it is a lot easier to make a case that every government agency needs oversight than it is to make a case to kill it. My compromise at this particular point in time is OK, if we’re going to have one, let’s move it over.”