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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has hired Christopher C. Haspel away from the Government National Mortgage Association, giving him a top slot at the new agency, according to officials familiar with the matter.
June 14
Government National Mortgage Association executive Christopher Haspel, more or less a household name to lenders and servicers that deal with the agency, soon will be wearing a new hat.
Early this week the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will formally name Haspel to a top post, according to industry officials who have worked with him over the years.
Late last week his exact job title and duties could not be ascertained, but it's expected that he will handle mortgage servicing and securitization issues.
"He'll be one of the top guys at CFPB," said a trade group official, requesting anonymity.
Haspel's chief tie to the new bureau is Raj Date, a top lieutenant to its de facto head Elizabeth Warren. Date worked with Haspel at Capital One Financial Corp. During his career, which started in the early 1990s, Haspel has also worked at companies including BlackRock Financial, GE Financial Services and Fannie Mae. He left Fannie in 2005, three years before its implosion.
Meanwhile, Date is on the speaker circuit these days, trying to reassure the industry that the CFPB will be thoughtful but firm in carrying out its mission of bringing transparency to consumer finance.
Speaking at a recent banking conference in Florida, Date, the bureau's associate director of research, markets and regulations, said financial services executives shouldn't worry about the CFPB's broad authority to write regulations. "We have a lot of tools, not just rules," Date said. Besides, he said, adopting new rules is "not necessarily the most effective or efficient manner" in which to oversee consumer finance. (Date is considered a candidate to head the CFPB, but has declined to discuss the matter.)
