Tag Archives: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

On Thursday Consumer Financial Protection Bureau nominee Elizabeth Warren attended a virtual press conference, delineating six groups of nonbank companies that may soon fall under the agency's broad scope of authority. The agency is responsible for ensuring that both banks and nonbanks comply with consumer financial protection and fair lending laws, Warren said, reading from a prepared statement.

Seeking to dispel controversy surrounding recent rule-making efforts, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau nominee and Treasury Department adviser Elizabeth Warren attended a virtual press conference on Thursday to invite public commentary and uphold the agency's claim to sweeping powers under the Dodd-Frank Act. Warren briefly touched on the proposed definition for so-called ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├àÔÇ£larger participants,├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├é┬Ø citing nonbank mortgage companies, payday lenders, and private student lenders as subjects that would fall under the rule.

Concerned by the risk that new regulatory infrastructure may duplicate existing financial rules, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to the Treasury Department and Federal Trade Commission on Monday outlining recommendations to minimize overlap between the former and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Addressing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, the letter called for a Memorandum of Understanding in order to clarify and empower the FTC and CFPB.

Despite gridlock in the confirmation process for its embattled nominee, news reports put the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on schedule to launch formal operations and ready to begin policing Wall Street in July, with or without the director that Senate Republicans vow to obstruct. With its management team and staff already in place, a broad array of powers sanctioned by the Dodd-Frank Act will empower the consumer protection bureau to issue new rules for over 100 banks with more than $10 billion in assets.

Firing another salvo at the new Dodd-Frank regulatory regime, House Republicans submitted an appropriations bill last week that proposes slashing $350 million from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's budget for 2012. Released by the House Committee on Appropriations, the bill offers to cap funding for the CFPB at $200 million, keeping to a minimum the sweeping powers that Dodd-Frank invested in the new regulatory agency. Provisions also threatened to kneecap the Obama administration's 2011 fiscal year budget.

Elizabeth Warren has hit another hurdle on the path to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director, after a string of news reports revealed the administration is considering a former banker for the role. The buzz is that President Barack Obama and his advisers have begun to openly float Raj Date as a replacement nominee to fill the top position at the bureau. Date currently serves as a deputy under Warren and has ties to Capital One Financial and Deutsche Bank.

Texas Representative, Jeb Hensarling, reconfirmed his commitment to eliminating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac within five years saying, "We have waited for years to do something. It is time to start doing something." Referring to the two-time rejection of his legislation by a Democrat-controlled chamber, he added, Hopefully, the third time is a charm. The fourth-ranking House Republican said he would reintroduce his legislation to end the conservatorship of Fannie and Freddie within two years of passage.