LAS VEGAS — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it has no plans to conduct any “ride along” exams with the NCUA or other financial regulators of financial institutions of less than $10 billion in assets, even though the agency has that authority.
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Edwin Chow, regional director for the West Region for the CFPB, addressed credit union housing finance executives attending the 16th annual conference of the American Credit Union Mortgage Association at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas Wednesday.
Chow said the CFPB would not do any joint exams on institutions of less than $10 billion because the agency recognized these institutions only represent a small consumer protection risk and that they have proved themselves with years of compliance with already existing consumer protection laws and regulations. Still, the agency has the authority to do the exams, he added.
Instead, the CFPB is spending most of its time on starting to supervise and is planning to examine the thousands of check cashers, payday lenders, non-depository mortgage lenders, debit collectors and credit bureaus that the agency also has authority to oversee, Chow said.
More than half of the agency's employees are examiners or examination managers, Chow said. He emphasized the CFPB was not as much interested in looking for infractions on a case by case basis but to make sure both depositor and non-depository firms have plans and procedures in place to protect consumers from unfair or deceptive products and procedures.
