Compliance Blog

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has gone through some significant changes since the resignation of former Director Richard Cordray last November.  Moving from continuously issuing regulations and enforcement actions, under its current leadership, the bureau appears to be heading to a kinder and gentler mode.  Acting Director Mick Mulvaney has made it clear in both a memo to CFPB staff and the bureau's recently released five-year strategic plan that going forward, the CFPB will go no further than furthering its statutory responsibilities outlined under Dodd-Frank.  According to its mission, the bureau will "regulate the offering and provision of consumer financial products or services under the Federal consumer financial laws" and "educate and empower consumers to make better informed financial decisions."

The CFPB has three goals under the current strategic plan:

1. Ensure that all consumers have access to markets for consumer financial products and services.
2. Implement and enforce the law consistently to ensure that markets for consumer financial products and services are fair, transparent, and competitive.
3. Foster operational excellence through efficient and effective processes, governance and security of resources and information.

The plan outlines the objectives and strategies to enable the bureau to achieve these goals.  One significant objective is to "regularly identify and address outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulations in order to reduce unwarranted regulatory burdens."  This will be done by getting input and feedback on existing regulations, looking at alternative approaches and alternatives to regulation.  Rules and regulations will be assessed and reviewed to evaluate their effectiveness and for opportunities to clarify, modernize and streamline when feasible. 

In addition to the new direction set by Acting Director Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s budget proposal called for cutting the CFPB's funding and limiting its enforcement powers.  Since its inception, the bureau has been criticized as having too much power with too little oversight from Congress. Under this strategic plan, Acting Director Mulvaney seeks to rein in the bureau's "unparalleled powers."

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Programming Note.  NAFCU will close at noon today and be closed on Monday for President's Day weekend. We will be back to blogging on Wednesday. Enjoy your weekend!