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Good morning. I am excited to welcome everyone to today’s symposium on Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act.  

Good morning. I am excited to welcome everyone to today’s symposium on “Behavioral Economics and Consumer Financial Services Policy.” 

Good afternoon. Thank you all for coming today. Today’s symposium is part of a broader effort on the part of the Bureau to engage experts in various fields on legal and policy issues. An important motivation for the symposia series is to give these legal and policy issues a fresh look, and that is precisely what we are doing and will do.

Thank you, Ruth, for that kind introduction, and thanks for having me. I’m delighted to be here at the 10th Annual National Consumer Empowerment Conference. 

The Bureau is also tasked with the mission of facilitating innovation and access to financial products and services for consumers. To achieve this portion of our mission to protect consumers, the Bureau has been updating our innovation policies and engaging with a variety of stakeholders, as well as collaborating with other federal, state, and global regulators on these issues. 

Thank you for joining us. Today’s global settlement is the result of a strong partnership between the Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, and the states. 

Thank you for that introduction, and thanks for having me. I’m delighted to be here to spend time with such a distinguished group of experts and leaders in financial and economic policy.

Good morning.  Thank you to all of you for coming today.  I am delighted to kick off the Bureau’s new symposia series with an important topic: abusive acts or practices under Section 1031 of the Dodd-Frank Act.  

Thank you all for coming today. I am delighted to be here to help kick off the Bureau’s symposia series. As we saw from this morning’s session, we are off to a great start. The purpose of this series is to provide a robust, proactive, and transparent dialogue to help the Bureau execute its mission and policy development process. 

Thank you very much for the invitation to be here with you today. I understand that today’s summit is the first event as part of Cato’s new “Initiative for Financial Inclusion.” Cato has been recognized for decades as a vanguard of the liberty movement, and I am grateful that your scholars, especially Todd and Diego, are focused on this vital issue. 

Thank you all for coming. I’m delighted to be at my first CFPB town hall. Philadelphia has always been a special place to me. With Independence Hall as the foundation, this city always reminds me of the importance of democracy and public service.  

Thank you to our hosts for the invitation, and to all of you for coming today. I’m particularly honored to be at a forum focused on bringing people together from across the political spectrum to forge commonsense solutions for the pressing issues facing our Nation.

Thank you, Todd, for the kind introduction. And thank you to the staff of the Law and Economics Center for the invitation to speak today. I am honored to participate in an event organized by an institution recognized as having a rich and consequential intellectual tradition. I am also grateful to Chris Mufarrige for his invaluable assistance in helping prepare my remarks today.

Good morning. Thank you Ruth for the introduction and for inviting the Bureau to be a part of this year’s Consumer Empowerment Conference. Consumer Action has graciously invited Bureau employees to speak at this event in years past, and I am honored to continue this tradition. And I am especially happy to return to my roots here in the Midwest.

Good morning. I would like to thank the Tampa community for hosting us so graciously and all of you for being here today. Since we established the Consumer Advisory Board (or CAB) five years ago, we have made sure that its membership spans the nation. We also make it a point to travel outside Washington, D.C. to learn more about consumers in different parts of the country. Yesterday we learned about this city’s history and visited a retirement community to hear more about the particular challenges facing constituencies such as older Americans.

CFPB Director Cordray explains why the arbitration rule will benefit consumers.

Thank you for joining us. After a long process of research, outreach, and review of over one million public comments, the Consumer Bureau today has issued a rule aimed at stopping debt traps on payday and auto title loans. The rule is guided by the basic principle of requiring lenders to determine upfront whether people can afford to repay their loans. 

For more than five years now, I have had the honor to serve our country as the first director of the new U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In that time, we have built a brand-new federal agency from scratch. And we have sent a strong message to the banks and large financial companies that in a frank and fair way we are pushing them to clean up their act and put their customers first.

Thank you for inviting me and welcoming me to the Labor Day Picnic. I have been here many times over the years, but this time around it has been awhile. Let me thank Pete McLinden of the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council for urging me to come and speak today, and Tim Burga, head of the Ohio AFL-CIO, as well.

Thank you for joining us. In our fast-moving modern economy, it is increasingly common for consumers to use debit cards the way they used to use cash. They also write checks and arrange for money to be taken out of their account. This makes it harder to keep track of their checking account balances from day to day, even if they are diligent about checking their balances online or by phone. Consumers living on the edge can find themselves racking up numerous overdraft charges.

Today, we are announcing a final rule that prevents financial companies from using mandatory arbitration clauses to deny groups of consumers their day in court. 

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opened its doors less than six years ago. Our mission is to stand on the side of consumers and ensure they are treated fairly in the financial marketplace. Through fair rules, consistent oversight, appropriate law enforcement, and broad-based consumer engagement, we are working to restore trust and confidence in the markets for household financial products and services. 

Consumer Bureau Launches “Certify Your Service” Campaign to Help Teachers, First Responders, and Other Public Servants Stay on Track

Welcome to this meeting of the Consumer Advisory Board. Once again, I thank our members for sharing your expertise and perspectives on the concerns of consumers and the issues we face at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 

Good afternoon and thank you. And let me thank all the groups represented here at the conference. You raise awareness about the need for fairness, honesty, and justice in business, housing, civic life, and economic development.