Consumer Law

More on the Independence (or Not) of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection in Senator Dodd's Financial Reform Bill

By Brian Wolfman

Recent CLP posts here, here, and here have commented on the fact that Senator Dodd's financial reform bill does not create an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency but rather establishes a consumer protection bureau within the Federal Reserve whose regulations can be vetoed by a board comprised largely of bank and other financial regulators. Over at Credit Slips, Stephen Lubben explains how that would work. Here's how Lubben begins:

Under section 111 of Chairman Dodd's proposed bill, the new Financial Stability Oversight     Counsel will be made up of

• the Treasury Secretary, who would serve as chair
• the Federal Reserve Chairman
• the Comptroller of the Currency
• the Director of the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
• the Chairman of the SEC
• the Chairman of the FDIC
• the Chairman of the CFTC
• the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency
• and an independent member, who must have an insurance background, and would serve a 6 year term

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on March 24, 2010 (boomark / email).