The CFPB’s annual financial report showed an uptick in staffing and expenses but a significant increase in the civil money penalties collected. Victim compensation flagged a bit. (Includes data chart.)

The bureau will be adding up to 20 new employees, most of them attorneys, as it prepares to take aim at larger firms and recidivism.

Although CFPB Director Rohit Chopra’s tenure so far has been unusually quiet on the mortgage front, industry attorneys and executives said other actions indicate there’s enforcement on the horizon.

Compared to fiscal year 2020, complaint investigations have returned to and even improved previous processing times. But the number of complaints appears to be reversing a general downward trend.

HMDA filing period opens; CFPB issues medical debt bulletin; CFPB sues debt collectors; CFPB files amicus brief in MLA lawsuit; OIG releases quarterly work plan.

The CFPB needs to ensure its staff know when to issue a consumer compliance rating to nonbanks and the criteria for selecting the examination. Also, the bureau needs to expand its examination workforce.

But acquiring that talent is going to be an enormous challenge for the bureau given that it cannot compete with compensation levels in the private sector.

The CFPB said it will apply heightened scrutiny to matters and decisions where a regulated entity has employed or retained the services of a former bureau employee.

The CFPB needs to improve the effectiveness of its quality management program in order to strengthen its supervision activities, the Federal Reserve Office of Inspector General said in a recent report.

While Zixta Martinez got bumped up, two new faces — Karen Andre and Jan Singelmann — are joining the senior ranks of the CFPB.