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"  The federal government has joined a growing number of states ininvestigating\u00A0and\u00A0prosecuting\u00A0\u201Crobo-signing\u201D and notarial misconduct within the mortgage industry with the appointment of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as the first director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).   Formed last year in response to widespread fraud and financial scandals, the CFPB is charged with oversight and enforcement authority over America\u2019s mortgage servicers and other financial institutions, which includes so-called \u201Cnonbank organizations\u201D such as mortgage brokers and servicers, credit reporting agencies and payday loan companies.   \u201CMany of these institutions had no regular federal oversight in the run up to the financial crisis,\u201D Cordray said in a statement. \u201CThey led a race to the bottom and greatly harmed consumers.\u201D   The \u201Crobo-signing\u201D crisis has starkly revealed\u00A0the consequences of ignoring or willingly abandoning sound, legal notarial practices. The establishment of the CFPB \u2014 along with recent\u00A0state actions\u00A0and growing risk management concerns among corporate boards \u2014 illustrates that bothNotaries\u00A0and their\u00A0supervisors\u00A0are obligated to know and strictly follow state laws and sound notarial practices to avoid risk.   Cordray said the agency\u2019s examiners have already started looking at major banks, \u201Creviewing documents and asking tough questions\u201D about how they are complying with consumer protection laws. In the coming months, other financial organizations will begin to come under the same scrutiny.   Michael Lewis is Managing Editor at the National Notary Association. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<https://www.nationalnotary.org/notary-bulletin/blog/2012/01/new-director-federal-watchdog-agency>