CBA Recognizes 10th Anniversary of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

CFPB
July 21, 2021

 

WASHINGTON – CBA President and CEO Richard Hunt today issued the following statement recognizing the 10th anniversary of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB):

“The CFPB’s mission of increasing transparency and fairness and clearly defining the rules of the road is profoundly important and a mission CBA has long championed.

“Over the last 10 years, the Bureau has taken some important steps to improve disclosures and empower consumers – critical components for a strong and inclusive banking system and hundreds of millions of Americans we serve. However, the Bureau’s inconsistent rulemaking process has also led to some missed opportunities to continue delivering on its mission — causing considerable uncertainty for consumers, small businesses, and financial institutions as they seek to comply with ever-changing regulatory requirements.

“Many of these challenges stem from the CFPB’s flawed leadership structure, which has enormous influence over an industry affecting millions of Americans everyday and is accountable to no one. Subject to the pendulum swings of changing administrations, the Bureau’s single-director governance structure too often centers around politics in Washington rather than the very people it was created to protect – the consumer.

“This is why for years CBA has advocated for Congress to create a bipartisan, Senate-confirmed, five-person commission to lead the Bureau — as the House of Representatives originally passed in 2010. If the last 10 years have taught us anything, now more than ever, it’s time to stop the pendulum from swinging.”

CBA’s Advocacy For Reform At The CFPB

Throughout the course of the last decade, CBA has remained a leading advocate for revamping the flawed leadership structure at the CFPB, including filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau case in 2019. Ahead of the Court’s ruling, Hunt wrote:

“As demonstrated by other government regulators with multi-member leadership, a bipartisan commission would bring certainty and predictability. A structural change would positively affect the entire bureau and the laws impacting all Americans.”

In 2019, Hunt underscored the need for consistent regulations and a less political CFPB in an American Banker op-ed,and reaffirmed the important of implementing a bipartisan commission to ensure the Bureau is delivering on its mission of protecting consumers in a letter to the House Financial Services Committee.  

A majority of Americans agree leadership reform at the Bureau is needed. In a 2017 poll conducted by Morning Consult,only 14 percent of respondents said they believed the CFPB leadership structure should be left untouched, and by a 3-1 margin, indicated support for a bipartisan commission over a single director.

NOTE: In February, President Biden announced Rohit Chopra as his nominee to become the next permanent Director of the CFPB. In advance of Mr. Chopra’s confirmation hearings, Hunt outlined four core principles necessary for the Bureau to achieve the shared goals of protecting consumers equally across all financial institutions and putting an end to the political pendulum swing. 

Those principles are:

  • Ensuring Bureau actions preserve consumer access to credit;
  • Developing long-term, consistent consumer financial protection laws;
  • Implementing a clear, transparent rulemaking process with input from all participants; and
  • Creating a level playing field across all financial services institutions.

CLICK HERE to learn more about what to expect from the Bureau under Director Chopra’s leadership.

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