""President Barack Obama"":http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/president-obama stopped by the ""Consumer Financial Protection Bureau"":http://www.consumerfinance.gov/ (CFPB) earlier Friday to welcome the staff and new director Richard Cordray.
[IMAGE]After thanking the CFPB's staff and discussing the latest jobs figures, he reaffirmed the bureau's role as a federal regulator, describing its ""critical role to play in making sure that everybody plays by the same rules.""
Obama went on to praise regulators for their roles in making sure ""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.""
[COLUMN_BREAK]The chief executive sent shockwaves around the mortgage servicing and lending industries Wednesday by making the controversial decision to recess appoint Cordray as CFPB director.
The move bypassed lawmakers in the Senate, namely 44 Republicans that vowed earlier this year to block any nominee for the bureau, no matter the party affiliation.
Prominent trade groups ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô released statements pledging to do anything to overturn the president's recess appointment.
Already Cordray made moves as director by naming Raj Date, erstwhile Treasury special assistant for the bureau, as deputy director.
While speaking at the bureau, Obama also discussed the CFPB's ""Know Before You Owe"" campaign, praising it for ""doing three big things"" for the country's homeowners.
""It's making home loan applications more transparent, so that families will know what they owe on their mortgages,"" he said.
The CFPB came out with news Thursday that it plans to undertake its full rulemaking authority for 18 consumer financial laws, continuing with supervisory policies for nonbank financial entities.