In a comment letter submitted today, the American Bankers Association joined with the Consumer Bankers Association in urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau not to limit its authority to supervise nonbanks that pose an immediate risk of harm to consumers.
The Dodd-Frank Act gives the CFPB authority to move quickly to supervise entities that present immediate “risks [of harm] to consumers . . . .” This authority is separate from the authorities the CFPB has to supervise nondepository institutions that offer mortgage or foreclosure relief services, private education loans, payday loans or “larger participant[s] of a market for other consumer financial products or services” when the bureau issues a rule to define the larger participants in that market.
ABA and CBA expressed concern that the CFPB has proposed to limit its authority to conduct risk-based supervision. The groups noted that the Dodd-Frank Act did not define the phrase “risk to consumers,” and the absence of a definition was intended to allow the CFPB to move quickly to supervise entities that present an immediate risk of harm to consumers.
