Director Chopra is causing more harm than good with the approach of bullying supervised institutions instead of taking an approach of explaining regulatory guidance or expectations and providing institutions an opportunity to implement the guidance, subsequently examining institutions for compliance. The approach of examining and fining instructions for unclear rules or for poorly communicated/crafted regulatory requirements will end up costing consumers far more as institutions' increased costs to respond to an irrational regulatory approach will eventually be passed along to the consumer.
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Matt Johnson
CFO
Premier Bank
Omaha, NE
Posts reflect my personal opinion and do not represent any organization in which I am affiliated.
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-10-2022 10:25
From: Rob Blackwell
Subject: A Hard-Charging CFPB
This week's post from S&P Global Market Intelligence discusses the array of unconventional practices adopted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under Director Rohit Chopra to crack down on banks and other financial institutions. These include circumventing typical regulatory channels; broadening the agency's definition of what constitutes unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices to include discrimination; interpreting statutes in "really unusual" ways, according to one legal expert; and generally opting for rapid-fire policy announcements over notice-and-comment rulemaking. While consumer advocates are thrilled with Chopra's approach, industry stakeholders have expressed alarm.
"The job of any regulatory agency is to explain the rules of the road to the companies it covers and to enforce them evenhandedly," said John Coleman, former CFPB deputy general counsel and a partner at Buckley law firm. "But in some cases, like recent changes to its [unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices] exam manual, the CFPB has taken action without offering clear guidance or even explaining its legal authority. Greater attention to input from all stakeholders would ensure that it has fully considered the soundness and implications of the way it interprets its rules."
Be sure to check out the graphics featuring select CFPB lawsuits, orders, guidance, and announcements since Chopra took the helm.
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Rob Blackwell
Chief Content Officer and Head of External Affairs
IntraFi
Arlington, VA
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