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.