The CFPB Needs Reform, But Not More Regulatory Whiplash

Alan Kaplinsky (0:00)

In the Consumer Finance Monitor podcast that we have released today, I'm joined by two former CFPB officials with decades of experience inside the Bureau. Jason Brown, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, and former CFPB Assistant Director for Research, and David Silberman, former Acting Deputy Director and longtime Associate Director for Research, Markets and Regulation. We discussed their May 20th, 2026 Brookings Commentary entitled The CFPB, Where to Go From Here. In that commentary, they propose a series of structural reforms designed to make the Bureau a more stable and effective financial regulator. Since the day we recorded the podcast, two events occurred which are relevant to this podcast, which I think all our listeners should be aware of before actually listening to this podcast. First, among the five recommendations made by Jason and David are they called for stronger oversight of the CFPB. They specifically pointed to the Dodd-Frank requirement that the CFPB director testified before the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee twice each year.

Jason noted that the current acting leadership, and that would be acting director Russell Vogt, had not appeared for those required hearings, despite making significant changes to the Bureau's staffing regulatory policies in the scope of activity.

Since we recorded the podcast, acting director Vogt did appear at hearings before both committees. Second, two Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee have introduced HR. 10184, which is titled the Consumer Financial Protection Accountability Act and Reform Act of 2026 The legislation addresses a variety of subjects across five titles governing CFPB governance and funding, legal clarity and procedural fairness, including UDAP, innovation in consumer financial markets, supervision of banks and non-banks, and regulation by enforcement. Among other provisions, the bill would move the CFPB into the congressional appropriations process, expand rulemaking and retrospective review requirements applicable to regulations, require rulemaking concerning the meaning of the term abusive, revise aspects of bank and non-bank supervision, distinguish non-banking guidance from enforceable law, and make changes to civil penalties in the Bureau's complaint framework. It includes only one provision that's part of the five-point proposal of our guests today, but I thought I should bring it to everyone's attention, namely increasing oversight of the Bureau by requiring that the CFPB have its own Inspector General, rather than having to share one with the Federal Reserve Board. And with these prefatory remarks, our podcast show will begin.

Welcome to the award-winning Consumer Finance Monitor podcast, where we explore important new developments in the world of consumer financial services and what they mean for your business, your customers and the industry. This is a weekly show brought to you by the Consumer Financial Services Group at the Ballard Spahr Law Firm. And I'm your host, Alan Kaplinsky, the founder and former practice group leader for 25 years, and now Senior Council of the Consumer Financial Services Group at Ballard Spahr. And I'll be moderating today's program. For those of you who want information, either about the subject that we're going to discuss today, or for that matter, anything else in the world of consumer finance, don't forget to consult our blog, which also goes by the same name as our podcast show, namely Consumer Finance Monitor. We've hosted our blog since 2011, on the very same day that the CFPB became operational. So there's a lot of relevant industry content there. We also regularly host webinars on subjects of interest to those in the industry. So to subscribe to our blog or to get on the list for our webinars, please visit us at ballardspahr.com.

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Also, please let us know if you have any ideas for any other topics that we ought to consider covering on our show or speakers that we should consider inviting as guests on our show. So, we're going to be discussing today, I think, one of the most important and timely topics in the world of consumer finance and consumer financial protection that there is, namely, the future of the CFPB. The CFPB has been at the center of intense debate almost since its inception on, I think, it was July 21 of 2010, and with the priorities of the CFPB dramatically swinging, depending upon who's occupying the White House at a particular time. In a recent commentary published by Brookings, two highly experienced experts have put forward what I consider to be very thoughtful proposals aimed at bringing greater stability and effectiveness to the agency. So today, I'm delighted to be joined by the co-authors of that piece, which is called, it's published on May 20th, and it's called The CFPB, Where to Go From Here.