The new federal agency charged with regulating U.S. consumer financial services will have at least some rules in place by early 2012, according to the White House adviser helping to set up the regulator.

Elizabeth Warren, speaking at the 2011 summit of the National Association of Attorneys General, also said the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was working with the Federal Reserve to create 34 regulations that both agencies will oversee.

“There will be some, but not all, in place” by next January, she said in response to a question from the audience.

The CFPB will take over much of the regulatory responsibility from the Fed over the next year. The agency was a key part of the financial industry reform legislation enacted into law last summer.

Warren said the CFPB will get its rule-making authority on July 21, when it is officially open for business.

Warren, a Harvard Law School professor, has been an outspoken consumer advocate and is serving as an adviser to President Barack Obama and the U.S. Treasury Department to help set up the new agency.

She has long been considered a potential nominee to be director of the CFPB, but she has been controversial and may have trouble winning Senate confirmation.

The agency will police mortgages and credit cards and try to curb predatory practices in the financial industry.