Monday Morning Cup of Coffee takes a look at news coming across the HousingWire weekend desk, with more coverage to come on bigger issues.
All around the nation, some bonfires are starting and others are being put out. However, it’s getting harder and harder to tell which is which.
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission forcefully rejected Louisiana’s request to pause regulatory action over appraisals.
How quickly things change.
Now, in news exclusive to HousingWire, FTC Chief Administrative Law Judge D. Michael Chappell granted a stay in that decision late last Friday.
The stay is good for 90 days.
Two weeks ago, the state of Louisiana asked the FTC to pause its legal action over the state’s appraisal laws after the state’s governor and the Louisiana Real Estate Appraisers Board issued complementary orders that addressed the FTC’s charges that the board was stifling price competition by requiring that appraisal management companies follow the state’s established policies for how AMCs pay appraisers.
The LREAB originally asked for a 120-day stay, in order, they argued, to more fully understand the impact of the new ruling; Stay tuned for more.
Scandal-prone Wells Fargo is offering a novel reaction in the wake of last week’s force-placed auto insurance disaster.
Wells Fargo, still struggling to overcome a fake-accounts scandal in its community bank, said the division’s new leader is cutting about 70 senior executive jobs, according to a Bloomberg article by Laura Keller.
That’s almost half the total number of staffers in those positions, leaving 91 area-level managers.
“Most of the remaining managers will be re-titled as region bank presidents with direct responsibility for more employees than before, in a move aimed at reducing management levels across the branch network,” Keller writes, citing an internal Wells memo.
So fewer managers for more staffers? Strange logic when the bank cited a lack of staffer supervision when explaining its discretions in the fake-accounts scandal.
Corey Lewandowski, the former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, told Meet the Press he wants to see another big fish fired.
According to Lewandowski, Trump's new chief of staff, John Kelly, should fire the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Richard Cordray. The reason? Cordray is "all but running for the governor of Ohio," and if "you want to run for governor of Ohio, run for governor of Ohio, but don't do so sitting in a Federal office."
Also, the CFPB's recent decisions regarding arbitration rulings is also cited as suspect by Lewandowski.
Here's video of Lewandowski calling for Cordray to be fired.
EXCLUSIVE: @CLewandowski_ says Trump's new Chief of Staff should fire head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. #MTP pic.twitter.com/6sEknawV4B
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) July 30, 2017
Kelly recently replaced Reince Priebus and there's some specualtion why, but the arrival of communications director Anthony Scaramucci may be a related move.
That's it for now, be sure to come back to HousingWire.com for more updates and news nowhere else!
