Project Catalyst develops portfolio to support innovation

The initiatives announced at the start of Project Catalyst are gaining early traction. In November 2012 in Mountain View, Calif., we launched Project Catalyst, a program to support the creation and growth of innovative consumer financial products and services. The pilot collaborations we announced at our November launch have been actively moving forward. We have received data and are excited to be learning more about financial products and consumer behavior from real world startups.

In December, we announced the Bureau’s proposed Policy to Encourage Trial Disclosure Programs, an initiative aimed at working with industry to identify the best disclosure forms for consumers. In January, we explained the policy in a call with interested innovators. Once the policy becomes final, we will organize another call with the innovator community to answer questions about how to apply for permission to conduct a trial disclosure program.

As promised, we continue to engage with innovators across the country in formal and informal dialogue. Last week, we again went outside the Beltway – this time to New York City to meet with large financial institutions that share our interest in consumer-friendly products and services. We learned more about how these financial institutions are thinking about building and scaling a variety of new financial products. We also received valuable feedback about the policy tools we are using to implement Project Catalyst.

We will continue to engage with the innovator community to ensure the best financial products and services can reach American consumers. Every week we receive a number of new submissions from startups and other innovative companies looking to work with us. We encourage interested parties to send comments, submissions, and questions to us at: ProjectCatalyst@cfpb.gov