A bill introduced by Republican Senator Dan Coats would further limit the CFPB’s supervisory authority as to insured depository institutions and credit unions with total assets of $10 billion or less.

Under Dodd-Frank, such institutions continue to be examined by the OCC, FDIC or NCUA, with the CFPB only allowed to include its examiners “on a sampling basis” in examinations.  The CFPB is also allowed to require reports from such institutions “to support the role of the Bureau in implementing Federal consumer financial law, to support its [limited]examination activities, and to assess and detect risks to consumers and consumer financial markets.”  The CFPB is directed to use, to the fullest extent possible, reports that have been provided or required to have been provided to a federal or state agency or publicly-reported information.  

Senator Coats’ bill , entitled the “Community Financial Protection Act,” would amend Dodd-Frank to provide that:

  • the CFPB can only request reports from an institution for the purposes currently specified in Dodd-Frank through the prudential regulator, and must demonstrate to the regulator that publicly available information is insufficient for such purposes
  • any report requested by the CFPB must be institution-specific and cannot be an industry-wide report
  • the prudential regulator can deny any CFPB request for a report
  • in fulfilling the CFPB’s request for a report, a prudential regulator must, to the fullest extent possible, do so by using reports that have been provided or required to have been provided to a federal or state agency
  • the CFPB must accept existing reports in the format they were submitted to the prudential regulator or federal or state agency if the prudential regulator has determined that the reports provide the information requested by the CFPB