The Trump administration said it would seek broad changes at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by altering its “personnel,” a move that could lead to an effort to remove its current director, Richard Cordray, before his term ends in 2018.

The restructuring of the CFPB, a watchdog agency created after the financial crisis with the aim of strengthening consumer protection, is part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to revamp the Obama-era financial rules through legislative and regulatory measures. Mr. Trump began the process by signing 2 executive actions on Friday.

Gary Cohn, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Trump administration officials have had various discussions about the CFPB, including the future for Mr. Cordray and a continuing court case in which the constitutionality of its single-director structure has been questioned. Any move by the Trump administration to fire Mr. Cordray could lead to a contentious battle with Democratic supporters of the CFPB and possibly Mr. Cordray himself. The CFPB is admired by consumer advocates but has long been criticized by Republican lawmakers and the financial industry as a symbol of government overreach.

A CFPB spokesperson reiterated that Mr. Cordray had no plans to step down. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on January 24, Mr. Cordray declined to say what he might do if Mr. Trump attempts to fire him. He did say the independence of the CFPB was an important principle that “we should fight to preserve.”

Removing Mr. Cordray may not be easy. The 2010 Dodd-Frank financial overhaul that created the CFPB said the president can fire the director only for cause. Critics of the bureau see an opening in a federal appeals court decision last year that declared the bureau’s structure unconstitutional and granted the president the power to fire the director at will. The ruling isn’t effective while a CFPB appeal of the decision is pending.