The Federal Reserve’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) updated its Work Plan on March 8 to include the evaluation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) use of enforcement attorneys during the examination process.
The OIG listed this project under the work in progress section of its Work Plan. The evaluation is set to be completed during the second quarter of 2013.
“The OIG is conducting an evaluation of the CFPB’s integration of enforcement attorneys into its examinations of banking and nonbanking institutions’ compliance with applicable consumer protection laws and regulations,” the office indicated in the work plan.
According to the play, the OIG’s objectives are to assess: 1) the potential risks associated with this examination approach; and 2) the effectiveness of any safeguards that the CFPB has adopted to mitigate the potential risks associated with this examination approach.
This is not the first time this issue has been raised. In a Nov. 15, 2012, report, the CFPB’s ombudsman asked the agency to review implementation of its policy to involve enforcement attorneys in the examination of institutions. The ombudsman recommended that the bureau clarify the enforcement attorneys’ role during supervisory examinations.
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