January 25, 2012

Jonathan Pompan extensively quoted in Compliance Week on CFPB regulatory launch

2 min

Venable of counsel Jonathan Pompan was quoted in the January 23, 2012 issue of Compliance Week on the launch of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) into the regulatory realm.

Commenting on the CFPB’s initial steps of republishing rules from other regulators, Pompan says, “The obligation to comply with the law remains the same, but the new factor—not to be underestimated—is that there is a new federal agency, with virtually limitless power, that is now turbo-charged for supervision and enforcement of not just banks, but many nonbanks. ”Speaking about the CFPB’s plans to extend bank supervision program to non-bank entities, Pompan said, “If you look back at the past one and a half years, you see the emergence of very deliberate and strategic efforts by the CFPB to regulate all consumer financial products and services… The inherited regulations are only one piece of a multi-faceted program. By July 2012, we'll have a better understanding of what the agency is moving on to.”

Last October, the CFPB released its Supervision and Examination Manual which acts as the roadmap regulators will use to scrutinize companies. A revised edition was posted to the CFP’s website earlier this month. Pompan noted that the manual will act as a general overview saying, “As the program becomes more developed, it's expected that [the CFPB] will formulate some industry-specific protocol.” Pompan added that companies should pay close attention to the CFPB’s activities saying, “The action is not in the changes to the rules, but the supervision and examination program is the focus now.”