Chamber, bankers: CFPB has no power to police discrimination

The CFPB has no authority to police discrimination in financial services and a federal court should swiftly make that abundantly clear, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and banking trade groups said last week.

“Through its recent examination manual update, the CFPB has, with the stroke of a pen arrogated an open-ended and novel power to police regulated entities for discrimination—including for mere disparate impact,” the groups stated in a motion for summary judgement filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Background on the Issue

Earlier this year, the Chamber announced a campaign to force the rollback of policies that have been adopted during Rohit Chopra’s term as CFPB director.

In September, the Chamber, the American Bankers Association and several other state banking groups filed a suit contending that agency officials exceeded their authority when they decided to investigate discrimination as part of their examination process. Credit union trade groups are not parties to that suit.

 

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