Joe Biden has been struggling in recent weeks to push his ambitious legislative agenda through Congress. But as work has stalled on his spending proposals, the US president has quietly scored a significant victory for progressive supporters who want to change the financial services industry through more aggressive regulation.

The win came in the form of a narrow Senate vote a few days ago confirming Biden’s choice to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — Rohit Chopra. A 39-year-old product of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton school of business, Chopra is a fervent consumer advocate who favours stiff penalties for corporate bad actors.

His ascension marks a critical moment in the short, tumultuous history of the CFPB. The agency was created during the Obama administration to crack down on the predatory consumer lending that many on the left blamed for the financial crisis. Republicans rued its far-reaching powers from the start and Donald Trump’s White House tried to put the agency to sleep. Now, with Chopra in charge, the tables have turned again.