CFPB Names Its Heads Of Research, Fair Lending

A Harvard professor will head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Office of Research, while a civil rights lawyer and former Fannie Mae staffer joins the CFPB as its assistant director of Fair Lending.

"Under Sendhil Mullainathan, the Office of Research will promote evidence-based policy-making at the CFPB. The Office will provide analytical support to the Bureau and strengthen its understanding of possible benefits and costs of potential CFPB policies," said Elizabeth Warren, assistant to the President and special advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the CFPB. "With Patrice Ficklin at its head, the Office of Fair Lending will provide oversight and enforcement of Federal laws intended to ensure fair, equitable, and nondiscriminatory access to credit for both individuals and communities."

Mullainathan is a professor of economics at Harvard University and research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Ficklin most recently practiced at Relman, Dane & Colfax, specializing on civil rights issues arising in lending and fair housing. She was previously a member of Fannie Mae's grievance department.