New group to examine ways to harmonize and modernize federal consumer financial laws.
10/15/2019 9:00
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is accepting applications for professionals interested in serving on a new Federal Consumer Financial Law taskforce charged with studying the existing legal and regulatory environment facing consumers and financial services providers. The taskforce will submit recommendations to CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger.
“An objective and independent evaluation of our current regulatory framework to identify where there may be gaps or where regulation should be simplified or modernized is needed to help us more effectively carry out our mission of protecting consumers,” Kraninger said in a press statement. “As we work to set up the taskforce, we encourage interested individuals to apply to be considered to be part of the taskforce.”
Kraninger’s office is looking for participants who have a broad range of expertise in consumer protection and consumer financial products or services; significant expertise in analyzing consumer financial markets, laws, and regulations; and a demonstrated record of senior public or academic service.
The taskforce will produce new research and legal analysis of consumer financial laws in the United States, focusing specifically on updating the enumerated consumer credit laws—and their implementing regulations—and identifying gaps in knowledge that should be addressed through research, ways to improve consumer understanding of markets and products, and potential conflicts or inconsistencies in existing regulations and guidance.
According to the press statement, the taskforce is in part inspired by an earlier commission established by the Consumer Credit Protection Act in 1968. In addition to various changes to consumer law generally, the act established a national commission to conduct original research and provide Congress with recommendations relating to the regulation of consumer credit. The commission’s report contains original empirical data, information, and analyses—all of which undergird the report’s final recommendations. The data, findings, and recommendations from the commission were all made public and the report led to significant legislative and regulatory developments in consumer finance.
Click here for additional information on the qualifications for members, as well as the process for applying.