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