WASHINGTON - November 12 - The sweeping Wall Street Reform Bill that was signed into law this summer calls for the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Just like other consumer regulators work to keep dangerous products off the market, the CFPB’s job is to make sure financial products and services don’t harm consumers or our economy.

This summer, almost 3,000 Bankster subscribers signed a petition to President Obama asking him to appoint Elizabeth Warren to head the new bureau. On September 17th, Warren was appointed by the president to get the bureau on its feet and running. The new agency has not yet opened its doors, but we wanted to give Warren and the new staff a little guidance on what Americans think the agency’s top priorities should be as it begins its work.

Here at Bankster, we work closely with the reform coalition Americans for Financial Reform. We hope you will take the AFR survey to let us know what consumer financial issues you think the new agency should tackle first and we will make sure the survey results are put on Professor Warren’s desk.

A footnote: The election results do not bode well for reform. The new House Banking Chair, Spencer Bachus, is already threatening to roll back the Volcker rule and its ban on proprietary trading, so we will have a lot of work ahead of us in the coming months. Thanks for staying informed and involved!