Legislation

The nomination hearing to consider Kathy Kraninger as the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was conducted Thursday, with Senate Banking Committee Democrats asking that the session be postponed until she provide proof she has the necessary experience to replace acting director Mick Mulvaney.

The appearance marked Kraninger’s first public comments since she was nominated by President Donald Trump to succeed Mulvaney at the bureau.

Read on to hear what Kraninger herself had to say about her qualifications to lead the 1,600-member bureau.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) expects to issue further guidance this summer on the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), as the bureau stated how changes in the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act apply to HMDA data collected in 2018.

On May 24, President Donald Trump signed the Act, which provides partial exemptions for some insured depository institutions and insured credit unions from certain HMDA requirements.

Read on to learn exactly what is – and isn’t – considered an exemption.

Leaders from public and private housing sectors recently gathered to debate a White House proposal to remove the federal charter from statute and fully privatize comprehensive government-sponsored enterprise (GSE).

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) hosted a June 22 roundtable event in Washington, D.C. examining GSE reform.

Read more to learn what the plan could mean for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and what experts had to say about the effects of it.

There have been congressional tweaks to the Dodd-Frank Act since its passage in 2008 – most notably 2015 legislation which loosened derivatives regulations, among other things, which drew the ire of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

But the 196-page package of regulatory reform legislation approved by the House this week is by far the most sweeping change to financial regulation since the Great Recession led to passage of Dodd-Frank.

The House joined the Senate in passing S. 2155, and the move was met with near-universal praise in the industry. Read on for details and reaction.

Congressional disapproval of regulatory guidance which has been in place for five years is nearly complete, following the House’s vote Tuesday in favor of a Senate resolution repealing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s 2013 indirect auto lending bulletin.

Congressional Review Act (CRA) disapproval resolutions have happened 16 times since the passage of the act in 1998, once in 2001 and 15 times since Republicans took control of the House, Senate and presidency in 2017.

This, however, would be the first time CRA disapproval had been used to nullify a form of guidance, rather than a promulgated rule. Read on for more.

As the House is preparing to pass bipartisan reforms from the Senate regarding Dodd-Frank Act statutes and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a heated debate before a vote on repealing indirect auto lending guidance shined a light on fractures surrounding the bureau.

Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), whose family has been in the auto dealer business for more than 60 years, said he was appalled by the divisiveness shown by Democrats in debating the resolution. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said she was “more offended as an African-American woman than you will ever be.” Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) said he was shocked as Democrats came to “accuse us of such outrageous defending discrimination.”

Read on for details of the exchanges, and what impact the tone might have for future reforms of the CFPB and Dodd-Frank.

A new bill introduced by the House seeks to encourage the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to issue guidance.

The bill was introduced the same time in which the Senate voted to disapprove a five-year-old bulletin the CFPB issued providing guidance on indirect auto lending.

The bill compels the agency to issue guidance, including guidance necessary to comply with the law, and received positive feedback from the industry. Read on for more details.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released a Majority Staff Report examining federal agencies’ regulatory guidance documents and their compliance with rulemaking, notably the Congressional Review Act.

The committee sought information from 46 federal agencies on guidance documents over the past 10 years, and in a three-month timespan, 38 agencies produced more than 13,000 guidance documents issued since Jan. 1, 2008.

It found various shortcomings with compliance with CRA and notification to the Office of Management and Budget. Read on for details and recommendations from the Republicans on the committee.