Consumer bureau's deputy director heading for exit

A top deputy of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Raj Date, plans to leave the agency at the beginning of 2013.

The deputy director of the bureau, and one of the first major hires of the Dodd-Frank creation, will leave on Jan. 31, according to CFPB spokesperson Jen Howard.

"Deputy Director Raj Date is leaving the consumer bureau he helped to establish on Jan. 31, after the CFPB finalizes the slate of mortgage rules Congress mandated," she said in a statement. "Raj has spent more than two years building the agency at a breakneck pace, playing a number of key leadership roles."

Date was brought on before the bureau officially opened its doors, tapped by CFPB architect — and current senator-elect — Elizabeth Warren to help lead its markets team. Date also took over as de facto head of the agency after Warren left but before current Director Richard Cordray had been recess appointed to head the bureau.

Date came to the bureau after spending time in the financial sector, including stints at Deutsche Bank and Capital One. Howard said Date had no specific plans for what would come after his January departure from the new watchdog.

"His legacy is a consumer bureau grounded in data-driven analysis, market-based pragmatism and the real-world experiences of American consumers," Howard said. "A former commercial banker and Wall Street executive, Raj has no current plans for his career after the CFPB, other than to spend more time with his family."

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