Bankers Group Supports Stronger CFPB Structure Control

The Consumer Bankers Association said on Tuesday (June 14) that it stood in agreement with reforms unveiled by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) aimed at financial products and services.

In a statement released by Richard Hunt, president and CEO of the association, the CBA “applauds Speaker Ryan and House Republicans for their efforts to strengthen the governance structure of the CFPB. As we see at the vast majority of independent federal agencies, a bipartisan commission at the helm will provide a balanced, fair, deliberative approach to supervision, regulation and enforcement.”

“Most importantly, it offers a stable form of leadership that will preserve the agency’s role, regardless of a President Trump or Clinton. Additionally, we thank them for highlighting the need to improve a number of other issues hurting consumers’ access to credit. We look forward to working with the House to advance these proposals to the Senate and then the White House.”

As reported by Bloomberg, portions governing the financial services portion of legislation would look to overhaul the Dodd-Frank law and would also overhaul the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, changing the latter into a bipartisan five-member commission, which would have its budget overseen by Congress. The speaker said that the bureau remains a micromanager of consumers’ financial lives.

In addition, the Ryan plan would keep regulators from determining which companies are “systemically important” and grant the ability to exempt some of the more highly capitalized banks from the more stringent requirements contained in the Dodd-Frank mandates. There would also be an abolishment of requirements that brokers put customer needs ahead of their own.