Elizabeth Warren to Tighten Mortgage Regs

Elizabeth Warren has a big job on her hands, but so far the Obama-appointed leader of the team charged with setting up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) seems up to the task. In a major early step, Warren convinced state and federal regulators to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to agree to work together to protect consumers.

If it seems odd to need a formal agreement for various regulators to cooperate, then this moment may signal a shift away from the bad old days of the financial industry's relationship with governmental bureaucracy.

In the mortgage area, the big change will be supervision of non-depository, in other words non-bank, mortgage lenders and servicers. "This agreement allows us to bring thousands of financial service providers out of the shadows and to begin the process of ensuring that all lenders comply with the same basic rules," Warren, who is special advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury, said in a statement announcing the MOU.