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On April 3, 2023, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) released an update on the status of its State Examination System (SES).  The SES is an examination system that is intended, in part, to foster standardization and enable state-level coordination by providing a platform for state agencies, regulators, and companies to conduct company exams from start to finish.… Continue Reading

I am pleased to introduce my new colleague Bo Ranney to our blog readers.  Bo joins Ballard Spahr’s Consumer Financial Services Group after having spent three years at the CFPB.  I expect Bo to be a valuable resource to our clients, particularly in preparing for CFPB exams and in dealing with CFPB examiners during the course of an ongoing exam.… Continue Reading

Along with its proposed larger participant rule for the auto financing market, the CFPB recently issued a special edition of Supervisory Highlights (“report”) describing its fair credit supervisory activity in what it characterizes as “the indirect automobile lending market.”

The report indicates that CFPB supervisory examination teams have been conducting targeted Equal Credit Opportunity Act compliance reviews of “indirect auto lenders. … Continue Reading

Earlier this week, the results of an evaluation of the CFPB’s supervision program conducted by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) that the CFPB shares with the Fed were released in a report entitled “The CFPB Can Improve the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Its Supervisory Activities.”  The report is based on data in the CFPB’s Supervisory Examination System (SES) database as of July 31, 2013. … Continue Reading

Politico has reported that, effective November 1, the CFPB will end its practice of having enforcement attorneys regularly participate in examinations of supervised entities. According to the report, Director Cordray announced the change on a conference call with CFPB examiners. The report indicated that a CFPB spokeswoman attributed the change to an internal review that aimed to improve the supervision process and found that having both examiners and enforcement attorneys present at exams was not efficient.… Continue Reading

Remarks made by Ori Lev, the CFPB’s Deputy Enforcement Director for Litigation, at the ABA Consumer Financial Services Committee’s spring meeting last week further clarified the role of CFPB enforcement attorneys in CFPB exams. His remarks, coupled with comments made by another CFPB official at the Committee’s winter meeting, leave no doubt that the enforcement attorneys are much more than passive observers. … Continue Reading

The CFPB’s practice of bringing enforcement attorneys to examinations has been a continuing concern for industry.  In particular, supervised entities worry that the participation of enforcement attorneys in examinations inhibits free and open communication, and signals the CFPB’s intention to use the examination process as a development ground for enforcement actions.  … Continue Reading

We blogged recently about H.R. 4014, which President Obama signed into law near the end of 2012.  The law identifies the CFPB as a regulator to whom a regulated entity may submit privileged information without waiving any state or federal law privilege and provides that the CFPB may share privileged information of a regulated entity with other federal agencies without waiver of any state or federal law privilege. … Continue Reading

The discussions at the ABA Consumer Financial Services Winter Meeting have reached biblical proportions (literally).  The participants on yesterday’s CFPB Exams and Enforcement panel read from the New Testament on “ravening wolves in sheep’s clothing” (later clarified as NOT a reference to CFPB enforcement attorneys) and how the “wise man built his house upon a rock” (the rock being a strong compliance program).  … Continue Reading

I am at the ABA Consumer Financial Services Committee’s meeting in Naples, Florida.  (There is record attendance at this year’s meeting—nearly 225 consumer financial services lawyers.  I am sure that the CFPB deserves some credit for this.)  And yesterday morning, I listened to a panel on CFPB exams and enforcement actions on which Calvin Hagins, the leader of the CFPB’s examination staff, spoke.  … Continue Reading