The Power 20
Elizabeth Warren
What
U.S. Senator-elect
Why
As she approaches her first term in Congress, Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is expected to be a force in all things consumer finance — including on any legislation seeking a strong fiduciary standard for all retail financial advisers. The consumer protection trailblazer and Harvard University law professor was chosen last Wednesday by the Democratic Steering Committee to take a seat on the Senate Banking Committee. In that role, she may take up issues involving the nation’s student debtors.
With student loan debt mounting beyond $1 trillion, Ms. Warren may seek to make such debt easier to discharge in bankruptcy. She has said that the power wielded by student-loan debt collectors “would make a mobster envious.”
Ms. Warren, 63, also is likely to strongly support the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which she helped create. The agency is reviewing whether older Americans are being misled by the alphabet soup of financial adviser designations related to assisting seniors.—Liz Skinner
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