AFSA Supports CFPB Transparency
This week, AFSA submitted a comment letter to House Financial Services Committee Chair Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) and Ranking Member Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) supporting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Transparency and Accountability Reform Act.
The bill takes several crucial steps that AFSA has long advocated. The bill:
- Creates a bipartisan commission to lead the agency, as opposed to an unaccountable single Director.
- Funds the Bureau via the Congressional appropriations process, which will promote consistent communication, transparency, and accountability.
- Creates an Office of Economic Analysis to assess the guidance and rules the Bureau promulgates to examine the impact they would have on the industries they affect.
“[The] bill would bring much-needed long-term stability to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and therefore to the financial services industry,” said Ann Harter, Vice President of Congressional Affairs with AFSA.
Since the CFPB’s inception, AFSA has worked to educate lawmakers on the issues regarding the Bureau’s funding and leadership structure. AFSA President & CEO Bill Himpler highlighted these issues during Congressional testimony last month, and they are even more prominent as the Supreme Court weighs whether that funding is constitutional in the first place.
“If the past few years have taught us anything, it is that transparency and accountability are crucial to a well-functioning regulatory process, which also encourages certainty for financial institutions, as well as consumers. AFSA appreciates the work of the House Financial Services Committee to institutionalize these principles in the CFPB,” said AFSA President and CEO Bill Himpler.
April 26th, 2023
