Even as policymakers continue to battle over the effectiveness of the CFPB, the agency has issued its latest request for comment on its activities–this one focusing on its enforcement powers.
Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, an outspoken critic of how the agency operated under former Director Richard Cordray, has announced that the agency is reexamining how it administers consumer protection laws. The bureau already has asked for comment on improvements to its administrative adjudication and civil demand processes.
In its latest request for comment, the bureau wants to know—among other things—whether its civil penalties are fair and how well the agency coordinates with other state and federal agencies. In addition, the bureau is seeking suggestions on how to relieve the burden of its enforcement activities, the length of its investigations and whether the targets of its probes should be permitted to make a presentation to bureau officials before the agency initiates an enforcement action.
Mulvaney said that next week, the agency will request comment on the bureau's supervisory responsibilities.
Credit union leaders, including NCUA Board Chairman J. Mark McWatters, have criticized the agency's role in overseeing credit union activities.
Meanwhile, Mulvaney's supporters and critics continue to battle over how he is overhauling the agency.
In a conference call with reporters, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) accused Mulvaney of transforming the CFPB into a “corporate financial protection bureau.”
He accused Mulvaney of attempting to dismantle the bureau from the inside.
But on Tuesday, Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting said that he had met with Mulvaney and was “impressed with Mick's leadership and emphasis on operational efficiency and excellence.”
“I share his willingness to reevaluate practices and programs that result in regulatory overreach and unnecessary burden that adversely affect banks' ability to serve their customers,” Otting said, following the meeting.
He added, that “Unnecessary regulatory burden is a waste that places a drag on our entire economy without making the system safer or fairer.”
He singled out Mulvaney's decisions to delay implementation of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act rules, re-examine the agency's payday lending rule and “deferring action on additional regulations until completing a more thorough review of those matters.”
Otting is a Trump Administration appointee, as is Mulvaney.
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