The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently launched
its new division of public interest examination (DPIE) to provide oversight
of the agency’s regulated entities with respect to affordable housing,
community development, diversity and inclusion, consumer protection and fair
lending.
The division will conduct monitoring, examinations and other
supervisory functions to further FHFA’s statutory responsibility to ensure that
the regulated entities operate in the public interest, according to the
agency’s website.
James Wylie will serve as the deputy director for DPIE,
having led the FHFA’s office of fair lending oversight since 2018. Before
joining the FHFA, Wylie worked on consumer protection and fair lending
regulations at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He also worked on fair
housing matters at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and was an
instructor for the National Fair Housing Training Academy before that.
“FHFA has a statutory obligation to ensure our regulated
entities operate in the public interest,” FHFA Director Sandra Thompson said in
a press release. “Since joining the agency, James has guided FHFA in maturing
its fair lending supervision program, and he is well prepared to lead and
strengthen these critical supervision functions.”
By establishing the new division, the agency hopes to highlight
its commitment to serving the public interest through examinations and increasing
synergy and collaboration between existing public interest examination programs,
the release states.
The agency noted that it has shared details about this
organizational change with the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) Chapter
343, and it is committed to working with the union to complete impact and
implementation bargaining.