LAS VEGAS — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it hasno plans to conduct any “ride along” exams with the NCUA or otherfinancial regulators of financial institutions of less than $10billion in assets, even though the agency has that authority.

• MORE ACUMA coverage: Conference Focus on Marketing
• MORE ACUMA coverage: Economist Predicts Long, Slow Recovery
• MORE ACUMA coverage:CEOs Bullish on Housing Finance

Edwin Chow, regional director for the West Region for the CFPB,addressed credit union housing finance executives attending the16th annual conference of the American Credit Union Mortgage Association at the CosmopolitanHotel in Las Vegas Wednesday.

Chow said the CFPB would not do any joint exams on institutionsof less than $10 billion because the agency recognized theseinstitutions only represent a small consumer protection risk andthat they have proved themselves with years of compliance withalready 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 tosupervise and is planning to examine the thousands of checkcashers, payday lenders, non-depository mortgage lenders, debitcollectors and credit bureaus that the agency also has authority tooversee, Chow said.

More than half of the agency's employees are examiners orexamination managers, Chow said. He emphasized the CFPB was not asmuch interested in looking for infractions on a case by case basisbut to make sure both depositor and non-depository firms have plansand procedures in place to protect consumers from unfair ordeceptive products and procedures.