Todd Zywicki, a law professor who has sharply criticized the CFPB as an unaccountable bureaucracy, has been named chair of an agency task force identifying potential conflicts and inconsistencies in consumer finance law.
The case before the court deals mainly with a statutory clause limiting the president’s ability to fire a CFPB director. But briefs filed with the court say striking that provision does not fully solve the bureau’s constitutional problems.
The window to change beneficial-ownership rules or pass other measures will be narrow, but some legislative efforts from 2019 will carry over and House Democrats will resume inquiries of certain industry CEOs and Trump-appointed regulators.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau faces a busy policy agenda heading into the new year, as well as strong external forces that are beyond its control.
Despite assurances by Director Kathy Kraninger that the agency is cracking down on discrimination, the agency has not filed an enforcement action or sent a Department of Justice referral on a fair-lending violation in two years.
PayPal — which is rarely thought of as a prepaid card company — has filed a lawsuit against the CFPB over its rules on prepaid accounts, underscoring the rapid changes in digital financial services and PayPal’s own expanding financial services ambitions in recent years.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren introduced a bill to require CFPB approval for certain bank merger applications in the wake of regulators' approval of a deal between BB&T and SunTrust.
Alternative data "may improve the speed and accuracy of credit decisions and may help firms evaluate the creditworthiness of consumers," the agencies said.
