With the CFPB start date of July 21 fast approaching, much has been made of the agency’s lack of a Senate-confirmed director. At this point, it looks to be a foregone conclusion that the Bureau will kick off next Thursday with the director’s seat still empty. But what does that mean about how the CFPB will operate, if they have no one at the helm? Kate Davidson of American Banker tried to answer that question this morning, and came to one interesting conclusion: it is the banks that will come under extra scrutiny with a director-less CFPB, while the non-bank institutions cannot be examined until a director is in place. This table from the article shows exactly what can and can’t be done if a director is not in place: