The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will celebrate its five-year anniversary on Thursday (July 21). Of the anniversary Jennifer Lee (bio below)says:
The CFPB has achieved a tremendous number of milestones in a short amount of time. Between promulgating new regulations, bringing a multitude of enforcement actions, including ripening cases past administrative investigation to district court and appellate court litigation, conducting financial education outreach programs, and building a multi-faceted coalition of consumer finance law enforcement agencies, the accomplishments are voluminous for a baby agency,” Lee says.
“The reason the CFPB is one of the most powerful and aggressive agencies in the country is because of the broad grants of statutory authority in Dodd-Frank plus the manner in which the Bureau has exercised them. It is a constant feedback loop — with each successive new development, the agency gets emboldened to do more. The current appetite for increased enforcement is not going to change, and the prolific agency will continue ramping up its litigation docket in the coming years, regardless of what happens in the elections this fall,” Lee says.
“The agency’s genetic makeup — embedded in its culture and internal structure — is set up to continue pursuit of aggressive consumer protection measures regardless of external Hill pressure,” Lee says.
“Rather than regulatory or legislative pushback, the industry will be well-served to closely watch what federal judges do to reign in the authority of the CFPB, which is also more frequently being challenged in litigation as a natural consequence of many factors, including non-public investigations ripening into public actions these last five years,” Lee says.
Jennifer Lee is a partner at the international law firm Dorsey & Whitney in its banking and financial services practice and a former CFPB enforcement attorney. Lee assists clients in responding to Civil Investigative Demands from the CFPB and defends their interests in ongoing enforcement investigations or litigation matters, including drafting NORA response letters, negotiating compliance with CIDs and negotiating consent orders. As a former CFPB Enforcement Attorney, Jenny understands how the CFPB thinks and applies its authorities to enforce consumer protection laws, including UDAAP, EFTA, GLB Act, FDCPA, FCRA, TILA and RESPA. Jenny has extensive experience in consumer financial matters involving the CFPB, state attorneys general or state banking agencies, the Department of Justice and prudential banking regulators or in Congressional investigations.
