The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today published its final rule on the disclosure of records and information. The final rule makes clarifying changes to the CFPB’s practices related to Freedom of Information Act requests, requests for information in connection with legal proceedings and the Privacy Act of 1974. It takes effect Oct. 12, 2018.
Importantly, as a result of advocacy by the American Bankers Association, the bureau omitted from the final rule previously proposed changes that would have threatened the confidentiality of supervisory information banks provide to CFPB examiners by allowing the bureau to disclose confidential supervisory information to any agency it deems “relevant to the exercise of the Agency’s statutory or regulatory authority” — including state attorneys general, foreign regulators and state bar associations.
ABA noted in a comment letter that this change would have expanded the bureau’s authority to share confidential information far beyond its statutory authority, and raised significant safety and soundness, litigation and reputational concerns for banks under CFPB supervision.