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Prepared Remarks of General Counsel and Senior Advisor to the Director Seth Frotman at the Innovative Payments Conference

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is opening a new office, the Office of Competition and Innovation, as part of a new approach to help spur innovation in financial services by promoting competition and identifying stumbling blocks for new market entrants. The office will replace the Office of Innovation that focused on an application-based process to confer special regulatory treatment on individual companies. The new office will support a broader initiative by the CFPB to analyze obstacles to open markets, better understand how big players are squeezing out smaller players, host incubation events, and, in general, make it easier for people to switch financial providers.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Colorado Attorney General announced joint, virtual office hours to be held as part of the American Consumer Financial Innovation Network.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it plans to issue an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) later this year on consumer-authorized access to financial records.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it issued a Compliance Assistance Statement of Terms Template (CAST Template) under its Compliance Assistance Sandbox (CAS) Policy to Build Commonwealth, Inc (Commonwealth).

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will host joint, virtual Innovation Office Hours, July 29-30, as part of the American Consumer Financial Innovation Network.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) announced the Bureau’s first-ever Tech Sprint series to reduce regulatory burden and improve consumer understanding and engagement of financial services and products.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it issued two No-Action Letter (NAL) Templates under its innovation policies.

CFPB granted a no-action letter to Bank of America, N.A. regarding the bank’s funding arrangements with housing counseling agencies certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

First No-Action Letter Issued to HUD Housing Counseling Agencies

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. 

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau), working in partnership with multiple state regulators, launched the American Consumer Financial Innovation Network (ACFIN), a network to enhance coordination among federal and state regulators to facilitate financial innovation.

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.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP), working in collaboration with 11 financial regulators and related organizations, is announcing an initiative to create the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN).

Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) Acting Director Mick Mulvaney today announced he has selected Paul Watkins to lead the Bureau’s new Office of Innovation. 

Company to Regularly Report Lending and Compliance Information to the Bureau

I am glad to be with you today to hear firsthand about the latest innovations in consumer financial services. These innovations seem to be generating considerable interest and optimism about the future. They are driving new services for consumers and transforming how they conduct their finances. 

Report Discusses Market Developments with Potential for Consumer-Friendly Innovation

Thank you.  It is exciting to be here at Money 20/20 and see all of the intense interest around innovation in consumer financial services. The possibilities opened up by powerful technologies and novel approaches are enabling new services and transforming how payments and lending are conducted.

Good afternoon and thank you for inviting me today. It is good to be here with so many people who have similar goals and ideals. The thread that ties us together is our shared commitment to the goal of empowering the economically vulnerable among us. At the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, we understand our ultimate goal is to make sure every consumer counts.

Project Also Finds Savings Persist After Offers End

Bureau Publishes Policy to Reduce Potential Regulatory Uncertainty for Innovative Products that Promise Significant Consumer Benefits WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized a policy to facilitate consumer access to financial products and services that promise substantial benefit to consumers. The new policy establishes a process for companies to apply for […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a Project Catalyst research pilot to analyze the effectiveness of certain practices designed to encourage positive saving habits. The research will focus on saving behavior among low- and moderate-income prepaid card users who often do not have access to traditional savings accounts and who may face unique challenges building regular saving habits.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a Project Catalyst research pilot to explore ways to encourage saving among consumers at tax time. The pilot will focus in particular on tax-time saving practices among low-income consumers in order to help them improve their long-term financial well-being. The initiative will inform work at the Bureau to promote consumer saving and support its mission to empower consumers to lead better financial lives.