WASHINGTON-The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may be one of the biggest question marks hanging over the compliance landscape in 2012, but one person is urging CUs to breathe easy.
Because the agency only oversees institutions with assets of $10 billion or more, only three CUs will be under its direct supervision. While political gridlock has prevented the confirmation of a sitting director, the CFPB's role as a supervisor of depository institutions is unaffected by that stalemate.
The bureau began the examination process in the autumn of 2011 and will likely have completed exams of all institutions in its jurisdiction within two years, said Steve Antonakes, the CFPB's assistant director of large bank supervision (and a former commissioner of the Massachusetts Division of Banks, where he also oversaw 100 state-chartered CUs).
Two-Year Intervals
The CFPB will not examine CUs below the $10-billion threshold, and Antonakes said that the exams will focus on consumer products rather than safety and soundness concerns, which will be the province of NCUA and other credit union regulators. While the agency will have a continuous supervisory presence in the very largest FIs, Antonakes said that if a CU's exam goes well, in all likelihood it should not expect to hear from the bureau until the beginning of another two-year cycle.
The CFPB has jurisdiction over more than 100 FIs, so Antonakes said that it's possible the three credit unions that do fall under its authority-Navy Federal, Pentagon FCU, and State Employees CU in North Carolina-would not hear from CFPB examiners until 2013, "but I wouldn't say that it's likely."
For many credit unions, however, the biggest worry is the CFPB's rulemaking function, which affects FIs regardless of asset size. Steve Van Beek, NAFCU's director of regulatory compliance, voiced the concern that the bureau had what he called "a wish list."
"They've indicated mortgages, credit cards and private student loans, and they've been pretty true to that," said Van Beek. "I think a bit of the worry with the CFPB is are they going to be able to take into account the cumulative impact of if they decide to start changing little tweaks here and there to get them to what they would like to see."
Antonakes countered that Dodd-Frank requires the bureau to work on certain rules and regs immediately-such as RESPA/TILA. "The fine point we've been trying to reach," he said, "is how can we improve consumer disclosure while also simplifying regulations that exist already."
