Obama to Announce Head of the new U.S. Consumer Financial Agency

Obama is poised to make an announcement soon on the leadership of the new U.S. consumer financial agency; Reuters

President Barack Obama is poised to make an announcement soon on the leadership of the new U.S. consumer financial agency and is leaning strongly toward Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren for the role.

He has a choice of naming her on either a temporary or a permanent basis.

Here are Obama's options and how they could play out:

NAMING WARREN ON TEMPORARY BASIS

Warren, whom Obama referred to last Friday as a "dear friend" and who first conceived of the idea of the consumer agency, is all but certain to be chosen by Obama.

The landmark financial reform law that created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau gives his administration the option of setting up the agency within Treasury on an interim basis under the leadership of an interim director.

This would allow Obama to avoid a heated battle in the Senate to confirm Warren, who is fiercely opposed by Wall Street and many Republicans. Her critics contend she would take a heavy-handed approach toward regulating banks and other financial firms that could hurt their competitiveness.

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