Democratic state attorneys general urged the CFPB not to back away from its investigative powers but promised to fill the gap if the federal agency does so. A group of 16 Democratic state AGs led by California’s Xavier Becerra recently sent a letter in response to the CFPB’s request for information on civil investigative demands. In the letter, they opposed any efforts to curtail the CFPB’s civil investigative demand authority. “As our state’s chief law enforcement officers ...

The CFPB made significant changes to its rulemaking agenda in 2018, signaling a weakening role for the bureau in the financial services market. The agency released its spring 2018 rulemaking agenda last week. Noting that it’s under interim leadership pending the appointment and confirmation of a permanent director, the bureau said it is prioritizing meeting specific statutory responsibilities, continuing “selected rulemakings that were already underway,” and reconsidering ...

A group of Democratic senators is asking the U.S. Office of Special Counsel to investigate whether Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney violated the Hatch Act. The acting director last month said to bankers that he “had a hierarchy” in his office in Congress and only talked to lobbyists who gave him financial donations when he was a member of the House of Representatives from South Carolina. “It raises troubling questions about whether his statements ran afoul of the Hatch Act ...

In response to the CFPB’s second request for information on adjudication proceedings, industry groups want more cautious and fair adjudications, while consumer advocates oppose any scale-back of enforcement through adjudications. The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which created the CFPB, allows the bureau to enforce consumer financial protection laws through two different means. One is to file an action in U.S. district court, and the other is to initiate an adjudication proceeding ...

The House Could Vote on the Reg Relief Bill By Memorial Day. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-WI, last week said the House will take up S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, as currently written and free from amendment. “We’ve got an agreement to be moving different pieces of legislation,” Ryan said. “So, we will be moving [S. 2155]. We’re also going to be moving in the Senate a package of bills that we think [Includes four briefs] ...

The conversation on GSE reform has shifted heavily as we approach midyear, having gone from optimism on congressional legislation to discussions on administrative options. And two Washington, DC-based think tanks recently offered their thoughts on reform and both point to 2019. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said last week that housing-finance reform will not happen this year. Karen Petrou, managing partner with Federal Financial Analytics, called this the “death knell” for GSE reform in this Congress. And she added that he didn’t seem sorry to deliver it. “With Mel Watt’s term as Federal Housing Finance Agency director coming to a close, Treasury...

Investors arguing that the net worth sweep was unjust hit a roadblock late last week when the Seventh Circuit Court ruled that they can’t claim GSE profits post-conservatorship.This latest ruling also led the Federal Housing Finance Agency to try to influence the outcome in similar cases against the agency. The shareholders sought to overturn a 2017 ruling in which a federal judge went against them and granted the government’s motion to dismiss the complaint.In this case, Christopher Roberts, et al., vs. the Federal Housing Finance Agency et al., similar to other shareholder complaints, investors argued that the...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should not take enforcement action against securitization trusts for the acts of servicers, the Structured Finance Industry Group said.

Non-agency MBS traders defeated charges brought by the federal government in two separate cases late last week. In one case, a judge ruled that a lower court erred by admitting evidence against the trader; in the other, a jury determined that bluffing by a trader didn’t warrant a conviction.

The Seventh Circuit Court shot down the chances of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders reviving their Treasury sweep claims last week. Investors Christopher Roberts and Thomas Fischer argued that the preferred stock purchase agreement was illegal and robbed shareholders of their profits.