Venable of counsel Jonathan Pompan was quoted in the September 25, 2012 issues of Law360 and The Blog of Legal Times on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) document request in its investigation of a mortgage lender. The lender filed the first-ever challenge to the CFPB calling the request “overly broad and unduly burdensome.” The CFPB rejected the challenge last week.
“The hope within the banking and other industries regulated by the new agency is that the scope of those requests will be tempered as the CFPB develops a broader institutional memory,” Pompan told Law360. “One has to take what they're writing at face value, but the scope of the investigations appears to be more along the lines of a classic examination than an investigation based on very specific acts and practices,” he added. Pompan noted that CFPB investigations may become broader as the agency matures, saying, “All indications are that they're still very much in the startup phase and are bringing these broad investigations, but at some point it would seem as though they would be able to end up bringing narrower and more focused investigations.”
Speaking with The Blog of Legal Times about the perception of the investigation and document request, Pompan said, “The denial provides a window into the bureau's view of its aggressive ability to investigate…Investigative demands like the ones the bureau has been issuing can get very expensive and be disruptive to even the most well-heeled companies. The bureau's supporters will likely view this as its appropriate role and critics will say that this is validation of their concerns about its power.”