CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger has sent an email to CFPB employees informing them of her decision to halt “all ongoing efforts to make changes to existing products and materials related to the name correction initiative.”  That initiative was initiated by former Acting Director Mulvaney.  Under his leadership, the Bureau began using “Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection” as its name, together with the acronym “BCFP,”  instead of, respectively, “Consumer Financial Protection Bureau” and “CFPB.”

Ms. Kraninger identified the name change as an “early priority” because of implementation decisions that must be made.  In initiating the name change and commissioning a seal reflecting the change, Mr. Mulvaney had pointed to the Dodd-Frank Act’s use of “Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection” to refer to the agency.  Ms. Kraninger stated that the new seal and “the statutory name we were given in Dodd-Frank” would be used for “statutorily required reports, legal filings, and other items specific to the Office of the Director.”  However, for all other materials, the Bureau will continue to use the name “Consumer Financial Protection Bureau”  and “the existing CFPB logo.”

Ms. Kraninger indicated that she made her decision “after being fully briefed on the costs, operational challenges and the effect on stakeholders.”  Her decision closely follows Senator Elizabeth Warren’s sending of a letter to the Inspector General for the Fed and CFPB asking for an investigation into Mr. Mulvaney’s decision to change the Bureau’s name.  In her letter, Senator Warren cited reports and an internal Bureau analysis indicating that the name change would cost the CFPB between $9 million and $19 million and would cost entities subject to CFPB supervision approximately $300 million to update internal databases, regulatory filings, and disclosure forms with the new name.

We applaud Director Kraninger for quickly addressing this issue and addressing it in a practical manner.