The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
is seeking comments on its enforcement action processes to help assess the
overall efficiency and effectiveness of these processes as they relate to the
enforcement of federal consumer financial law. The Request for Information
(RFI)—the third announced as part of Acting Director Mick Mulvaney’s call for
evidence to ensure that the agency is fulfilling its duty to best protect
consumers—will provide an opportunity for the public to submit feedback and
suggest ways to improve outcomes for both consumers and covered entities, the
Bureau stated. The Bureau will begin accepting
comments once the RFI is printed in the Federal Register, which is
expected on Feb. 12, 2018, which would leave the comment period open until April 13, 2018.
The Bureau is particularly interested in receiving specific suggestions regarding any potential updates or modifications to the Bureau’s enforcement processes, as well as aspects of the Bureau’s enforcement processes that should not be modified. In an attempt to identify elements of its enforcement processes that may be deserving of more immediate attention, the Bureau is specifically seeking information regarding, among other areas:
- communication between the Bureau and the subjects of investigations, including the timing and frequency of those communications, and information provided by the Bureau on the status of its investigation;
- the length of Bureau investigations;
- the Bureau’s Notice and Opportunity to Respond and Advise process;
- whether the Bureau should afford subjects of potential enforcement actions the right to make an in-person presentation to Bureau personnel before the Bureau decides to initiate legal proceedings;
- civil money penalty calculations;
- standard provisions in Bureau consent orders; and
- coordinating its enforcement activity with other federal or state agencies that may have concurrent jurisdiction.
Calls for
information on CFPB performance. The CFPB is issuing a series of requests for information
that are intended to provide evidence on how well the Bureau is doing its job.
The RFIs are seeking comments on the CFPB’s “enforcement, supervision, rulemaking,
market monitoring, and education activities.” The CFPB started with requests for information on the CFPB’s use of civil
investigative demands and administrative adjudications.
Investigative demands. The CFPB said that it is
making “a preliminary attempt” to identify the parts of the CID process on
which attention should immediately be focused. The notice emphasizes the
Bureau’s desire to collect comments from companies that have received CIDs in
the past, as well as from those companies’ attorneys. The focus appears to be
on easing the burden for recipients, rather than on improving the Bureau’s
access to information. The comment period expires on March 27, 2018.
Administrative adjudication process. The Bureau is
especially interested in receiving suggestions for whether it should be
availing itself of the administrative adjudication process, and if so, how its
processes and rules could be updated, streamlined, or revised to better achieve
the its statutory objectives. Comments may be submitted until April 6, 2018.
The next RFI in the series will address the Bureau's supervisory processes.
For more information about changes at the CFPB under Acting Director Mulvaney, subscribe to the Banking and Finance Law Daily.
