Newsroom

August 02, 2012

Compliance team posts helps on CFPB

Credit union staff looking for a brief, concise overview of how their institutions could be affected by the actions of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are encouraged to visit the NAFCU Compliance Blog to see Thursday's post on CFPB "main points" and regulatory authority.

The association's compliance team has come up with a one-page list of four main points about the CFPB's potential impact. This document notes that:

  • The CFPB's regulatory authority extends to all depository institutions even though institutions with less than $10 billion in assets continue to be examined by their prudential regulators.
  • The bureau can regulate nondepository institutions and "level the playing field." Along this line, the CFPB is authorized to regulate mortgage brokers, payday lenders and private student lenders of all sizes. It can also regulate "larger participants" in other consumer financial services markets.
  • The Dodd-Frank Act requires the CFPB to make changes to current rules; this will mean greater regulatory burden for credit unions. The CFPB's proposed rules on mortgage disclosures are called for specifically under the act.
  • The CFPB's actions will increase credit unions' reputation risk; it can declare specific actions to be unfair, deceptive or abusive.

The second document posted Thursday is a two-page list of the rules the Federal Reserve Board transferred to the CFPB last year under the statute.

The NAFCU Compliance Blog is open to all credit unions; free email subscriptions are available online.