One month after taking office, Donald Trump has launched a brutal attack on financial regulation in the United States. His first salvo was to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the agency that protects against financial fraud, and to make it more difficult for shareholders and companies to discuss environmental and societal issues.

For now, the most spectacular action concerns the CFPB. Under the aegis of its acting director, Russell Vought, a close associate of Trump appointed on February 7, the agency has de facto been forced to suspend its work. Several hundred employees, including the bureau's law experts, were fired. This gives "big banks and giant corporations the green light to scam families," said Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, who was behind the creation of the CFPB.

Founded in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the agency's mission is to combat financial fraud. The CFPB deals with both small-scale reimbursements from ripped-off consumers and large-scale fraud, including online scams, abusive medical debt and debt collection agencies that resort to intimidation. Since its creation, it has enabled Americans to recover $21 billion from companies found guilty by the CFPB.

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