WASHINGTON–Although he appeared before Congress last week, it’s too early to tell what a new director at the CFPB will mean for credit unions, according to one person.
As CUToday.info reported here, new CFPB Director Rohit Chopra testified before both the House and the Senate as part of the semi-annual review of the Bureau.
Although he outlined three broad priorities during that testimony, Chopra was also only two weeks into his new job at the time he appeared, so it’s difficult to glean much direction at this point, pointed out NAFCU VP-Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler.
“It went pretty much as expected,” said Thaler. “Director Chopra seemed to be open to relief for smaller institutions and he had an interest in looking at fintechs, which are two areas we have been concerned about. He said some positive comments, but ultimately we will have to see what he does at the CFPB. Is the CFPB going to take a different approach on some issues, such as flexibility for smaller institutions, and going after big banks and big tech? Or are we going to see what could be problematic, which is overregulation and overburden?”
The Three Priorities
The three priorities identified by Chopra during his appearances before Congress included:
- A focus on increasing competition in consumer financial markets, specifically in the mortgage refinance market
- An increase in scrutiny of repeat-offender companies
- A search for ways to “restore relationship banking in an era of big data.”