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Jan. 9, 2012 – The president on Friday gave his economic remarks while visiting the headquarters of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which was created by the Dodd-Frank Act and part of an effort to ensure rules are followed to help prevent another financial crisis.

Obama was speaking amid a group of CFPB staffers and their new director, Richard Cordray. The president nominated Cordray to the post last year, but Senate Republicans have been successful so far in blocking a vote on confirmation. He named Cordray to the post last Wednesday, citing recess appointment authority. Cordray could hold the post through 2013.

"Every one of you here has a critical role to play in making sure that everybody plays by the same rules," the president said. "To make sure that the big banks on Wall Street play by the same rules as community banks on Main Street. To make sure that the rules of the road are enforced, and that a few bad actors in the financial sector can't break the law, can't cheat working families, can't threaten our entire economy all over again."

NAFCU has been working regularly with CFPB staff and a succession of bureau leaders since its inception, keeping an eye fixed on ways to hold down or decrease regulatory burdens for credit unions as the CFPB takes over consumer financial services rules from seven federal agencies.

Cordray, in a speech Wednesday before a Brookings Institution meeting attended by NAFCU's Carrie Hunt and other invitees, pointed out several times that credit unions and community banks didn't cause the financial crisis. "In the run-up to the financial crisis, many unsupervised firms led a race to the bottom that pushed aside responsible businesses, including community banks and credit unions, and greatly harmed consumers," he said.

The CFPB is moving forward to implement a program of supervision over nonbank institutions, including payday lenders, non-federally regulated mortgage providers and others. It's also inviting consumers to write about their experiences with financial services providers.