WASHINGTON – Leaders of the Senate Banking Committee apparently have agreed on a scheme for a consumer financial protection agency but the latest plan would establish the initiative as an office inside the Treasury Department, rather than creating a new bureaucracy.
The "Bureau of Financial Protection" inside the Treasury Department would have a director appointed by the president and would be funded through assessments on large banks, non-banks and the Federal Reserve.
The new consumer office would have autonomous rule-writing authority that would apply across the board to all entities offering financial services or products, according to a draft of an omnibus bill being circulated among banking committee members last week. Any rulings by the consumer office could be appealed by other regulators, such as NCUA.
The proposal, to be part of a bill to create a systemic risk regulator and regulate derivatives and Wall Street rating agencies, falls short of the Obama administration’s aim to create an independent consumer financial protection agency, which is included in a bill passed by the House late last year.
