Patrice
Ficklin,
who
has
served
at
the


Consumer
Financial
Protection
Bureau
(CFPB)
since
the
agency’s
founding
in
2011,
will
depart
for


Fannie
Mae
to
serve
as
the
government-sponsored
enterprise’s
fair
lending
officer.
The
news
was
first
reported
by
American
Banker.

Ficklin
has
been
a
mainstay
at
the
CFPB,
overseeing
the
launch
of
the
bureau’s

fair
lending
office
and
leading
it
through
more
than
13
years’
worth
of
full-time
directors
and
presidential
administrations
from
both
sides
of
political
aisle.

CFPB
Director

Rohit
Chopra
praised
Ficklin’s
fair
lending
work
in
a
statement
published
by
American
Banker.

“Patrice’s
leadership
has
shaped
the
CFPB’s
fair
lending
program
from
the
agency’s
beginning,”
Chopra
told
the
outlet.
“I’m
grateful
for
everything
she
has
done
to
fight
discrimination
and
make
our
markets
fairer.”

Prior
to
joining
the
CFPB
in
May
2011,
Ficklin
served
as
counsel
at
civil
rights
law
firm

Relman,
Dane
&
Colfax
PLLC
for
two
years.
She
previously
served
at
Fannie
Mae
in
multiple
roles
from
1997
to
2009,
including
stints
as
director
of
the
offices
of
corporate
justice,
corporate
justice
and
employment
practices,
and
human
resources
at
different
points
between
1997
and
2002.

She
then
became
Fannie’s
associate
general
counsel
for
fair
lending
from
2002
to
2007,
and
was
associate
general
counsel
for
customer
strategies
and
consumer
law
from
2007
to
2009.

In
an
interview
with
American
Banker,
Ficklin
assessed
some
of
what
she
oversaw
during
her
time
at
the
CFPB
and
said
she
hopes
that
momentum
can
continue
into
the
future.

“I
was
a
private
sector
attorney
and
I
can
remember
hearing
at
conferences
this
sort
of
deep
resistance
to
the
idea
of
compliance
management
systems
existing
outside
of
mortgage
origination
in
other
business
lines,
such
as
mortgage
servicing
for
auto
finance
or
credit
cards,”
she
said.
“I
think
one
of
the
things
I’m
proudest
of
is
that
today
across
stakeholders
—
whether
it’s
industry
or
consumers
or
advocates
—
there’s
much
more
awareness
of
the
Equal
Credit
Opportunity
Act
and
the
protections
that
it
promises.

“And
so
many
folks
in
banks
and
nonbanks
have
invested
significant
resources
in
fair
lending
compliance.
We
see
fair
lending
professionals
much
more
deeply
embedded
in
their
company’s
operations
and
across
different
business
lines.
I’m
excited
about
that,
and
I’m
hopeful
that
that
will
continue
to
grow”

The
anti-discrimination
posture
of
the
CFPB
has
strengthened
significantly
under
the
tenure
of
Chopra.
According
to
American
Banker,
the
CFPB

set
records
last
year
with
18
referrals
to
the


U.S.
Department
of
Justice
(DOJ)
tied
to
alleged
fair
lending
violations
and
the
initiation
of
28
fair
lending
examinations
or
reviews.

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