Palm Beach, United States — Donald Trump has fired the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, who announced Saturday that his term had been "concluded" in the latest move by the Republican president to reshape the American government.

Rohit Chopra, who had been named to head the agency responsible for protecting bank customers in 2021, had been due to serve a five-year term, but in a letter posted on social platform X he said that had been cut short. 

"Every day, Americans from across the country shared their ideas and experiences with us. You helped us hold powerful companies & their executives accountable for breaking the law, and you made our work better," he wrote. 

The advocacy group Progressive Change Campaign Committee slammed the dismissal as "a direct giveaway to Wall Street," accusing the president of having "caved into pressure."

Chopra had engaged in multiple skirmishes with the major US banks, particularly over excessive overdraft fees, and was also campaigning for greater regulation of internet payment applications.

The CFPB was created in 2011, in the wake of the great financial crisis of 2008. 

The firing is the latest in a long line of dismissals as Trump roared back into the White House determined to take control of the federal government. 

Such personnel changes are not unusual during US transitions of power -- but the speed and scale of Trump's effort since his inauguration on 20 January have been striking.  

The Republican president believes that all government departments must be fully aligned with his political agenda. 

He has also promised, with his billionaire ally Elon Musk, to correct what he sees as the excesses of corporate regulation, while drastically reducing public spending. 

US media have reported the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is also preparing to carry out a vast purge against agents who investigated Trump's role in the assault on the Capitol building in Washington by his supporters on 6 January 2021.