CFPB Puts Diversity Office Director on Administrative Leave

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau placed the head of its Office of Minority and Women Inclusion on leave as the Trump administration rolls back the agency’s work on fair lending and diversity.

Stacie D. Jones is facing an internal investigation, although it’s not clear what the probe pertains to, according to multiple people with knowledge of the matter who requested anonymity to discuss personnel issues.

A CFPB spokesperson confirmed Jones was placed on administrative leave Tuesday. Jones didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

Financial regulators are required to have an OMWI program under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act to monitor diversity and inclusion efforts within the agencies and at the banks, securities firms, and other companies they oversee.

The OMWI’s latest annual report to Congress, released in December, says the CFPB under acting Director Russell Vought “has concerns” with some of the office’s work following the US Supreme Court’s 2023 decision striking down race-based university admissions programs.

The CFPB under Vought has separately proposed crippling fair lending protections, including eliminating the use of disparate impact theory to root out unintentional discrimination. The agency put J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo, the assistant director of the CFPB’s Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity, on administrative leave in July.

The National Treasury Employees Union and others sued to block Vought from shutting the CFPB down, including firing up to 90% of its staff. The full US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is set to hear oral arguments next month in Vought’s attempt to overturn an order from a federal district court judge blocking his efforts.

Contract Reporting

The OMWI office is required to provide an annual report to Congress each year on diversity and inclusion efforts at banks and other financial institutions as well as the CFPB’s use of minority- and women-owned businesses.

Roughly 42% of the CFPB’s $200 million in contract payments for fiscal 2024 went to minority- and women-owned businesses, according to the latest report. The fiscal 2024 report didn’t provide a breakdown on the race and gender of CFPB leadership, unlike past reports.

The CFPB also dramatically shortened its OMWI report. The fiscal 2024 report clocked in at six pages, compared with 47 pages the previous year.

All future contracting decisions will be made by “identifying the best contractors to support the CFPB’s mission and operations,” the agency said in its report. Hiring and retention of CFPB employees would be based on merit to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order last January aimed at “ending illegal discrimination,” the agency added.

Several other financial regulators removed their OMWI webpages last year following Trump’s directives targeting federal diversity programs.