As the Dodd-Frank Act marks its 10th anniversary, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) looks ahead to celebrating a decade of existence in 2021.
The settling of the agency’s constitutionality and existence might provide some certainty, but with the country dealing with the effects of the pandemic on jobs and housing, two experts talked with Dodd Frank Update about what might lie ahead for the bureau.
As the CFPB looks ahead to its 10th anniversary in 2021, the regulator will have new challenges to face. Scott Dunn, head of product management and strategy, compliance at Wipro Gallagher Solutions said the initial concerns over liquidity because of the sudden increase in forbearance requests seems to have come back in a positive way, although he said high capital requirements remained a strong policy, creating a barrier of entry to deter bad actors from entering the space and taking advantage of consumers during the crisis.
“Depending on how the pandemic shakes out and what the governmental structure looks like in the U.S. post November will certainly drive the agenda of the CFPB,” he said. “But the one thing we would like to see continue is that open communication with the consumer and the lender community that serves those consumers. Through the pandemic, and their behavior over the last year or two, we’d like to see that continue. And if they can continue that at a high level, with strict governance, it will help all parties greatly.
“We live in times of uncertainty. We live in a different world than we did a year ago, and the consistency is key across the board, and we believe the CFPB is making concerted efforts to ensure that remains at a high level without conceding any of their duties as called out in the Dodd-Frank Act.”
Wolters Kluwer Senior Advisor for Regulatory Strategy Timothy Burniston pointed to the Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law and said that it might drive some of the CFPB’s agenda in the years to come.
“The comment period on the task force’s RFI recently closed. We are likely to see recommendations from the task force that will involve actions Congress would need to consider, but I also think some of the actions or recommendations will be within the CFPB’s ability to control and deal with from a regulatory or policy standpoint,” he said. “I do think that’s something for us to watch.
“The CFPB is under a stipulated settlement agreement to get the small business data collection regulation issued, and we may see that happen in the next year to 18 months. They’re undertaking a five-year assessment of the TRID rules, which may result in regulatory change. They’re also involved in a review of the Dodd-Frank abusiveness standard, rules addressing the forthcoming LIBOR change, the GSE patch and HMDA among other things – quite a challenging agenda, made more difficult as the nation and the CFPB continues to respond to the pandemic.”