Kate Berry

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is raising concerns about exclusive government contracts and the fees that recipients of public benefits get charged. “Barriers to choice kill competition and can harm families who need every dollar to make ends meet," said Director Rohit Chopra.

"In many cases, these are fees where there's not even a service provided or where the bank or financial institution doesn't even do any work,” Rohit Chopra of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Thursday in public remarks.

CFPB Director Rohit Chopra launched an inquiry into so-called “junk fees,” with bankers and lenders countering that the fees they charge are related to specific types of work performed and that existing laws already prohibit excessive fees.

Rohit Chopra, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has cautioned banks, credit unions and fintechs about fair-lending violations that may stem from reliance on artificial intelligence. His comments threaten to discourage financial firms from using the technology to crunch nontraditional data about borrowers, experts say.

The Federal Reserve, FDIC, OCC and CFPB — increasingly under the leadership of Democratic appointees — are gearing up to regulate cryptocurrency, modernize the Community Reinvestment Act and give consumers more control of their personal data. Here's a look at the policy changes they're mulling.

Rohit Chopra, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, described many charges by banks, credit unions and fintechs as "junk fees" and said they often exceed the cost of providing the service. Several trade groups called Chopra's claims "distorted and misleading."

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is in the early stages of developing a rule that could give bank customers far more say in how their information is being accessed by fintechs and data aggregators. What the final rule looks like will depend on how much consumers already know about the way their data is collected, stored and sold.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has opened an inquiry into whether the largest issuers are engaging in unfair or anti-competitive practices. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and the rest of the top eight control 70% of the $1 trillion credit card market.

The Federal Reserve Board would become far more diverse if Sarah Bloom Raskin, Philip Jefferson and Lisa Cook are confirmed by the Senate. Jefferson and Cook are respected economists seen as likely to get the nod, but Republicans will challenge Raskin's assertions that bank regulators can play a vital role in combating climate change.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is more than a year away from issuing a proposal on consumers’ right to control the flow of their data between banks and third parties such as fintechs, according to people familiar with the bureau’s thinking. Many previously expected a plan to arrive this spring.

Hundreds of bankers and credit union executives are seeking exemptions and changes to a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposal to collect race, ethnicity and gender information about small-business borrowers that they describe as burdensome and unworkable.

The CFPB sued three executives of a Colorado debt collection firm for allegedly selling debts to third-party collectors who threatened consumers with arrest, jail or lawsuits in order to get paid.

Biden administration appointees moved quickly to highlight climate change risks and unwind Trump-era regulatory relief and housing finance measures. These regulators and lawmakers will have a seat at the table as the progressive shift in banking policy continues.

The consumer bureau asked for public feedback about payment platforms as part of a focus on the Silicon Valley giants’ financial services aspirations. But comment letters so far have been dominated by users complaining that they lost money on the big-bank-owned peer-to-peer network.

Sandra Thompson has won praise from homeownership advocates for suspending a fee imposed on borrowers that was meant to recoup Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's pandemic-related losses, among other actions she reversed. On Tuesday, President Biden said he will nominate her to be the permanent director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

If the Democratic majority on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s board succeeds in advancing a review of bank merger policy — over the disapproval of Chair Jelena McWilliams — progressive regulators could be emboldened to push for more substantive reforms.

The banking industry, which often questions aggressive moves by the agency, urged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to level the regulatory playing field between the financial and technology sectors.

Rohit Chopra, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, pledged to make it easier for state attorneys general to draw on the Consumer Financial Protection Act in filing lawsuits against corporate wrongdoers.

In a semiannual report on trouble spots in the banking sector, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency raised concerns that banks are taking on too much risk in pursuit of earnings growth.

The guessing game is over about President Biden’s pick for Federal Reserve chair, but several names are in the mix for three additional vacancies on the board, including vice chair for supervision.