From: Association of Corporate Counsel
Keith J. Barnett , B. Knox Dobbins, Cheryl L. Haas-Goldstein, Jason S. McCarter, Lewis S. Wiener and Jason D. Stone /Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP
In a May 23, 2014 blog post by Kelly Cochran, Assistant Director of Regulation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau indicated that it is working on a “larger participant” rule for nonbank automobile lenders pursuant to Section 1024 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010. Section 1024 authorizes the CFPB to designate certain industries and sizes of their participants as subject to its supervision.
Supervision under Section 1024 subjects “larger participants” to on-site examinations by the CFPB. Under Section 1024, the CFPB may also establish registration and reporting systems to which those persons would be subject, though the CFPB has not yet done so. In the long term, therefore, the designation of an industry and its “larger participants” may result in more than just on-site examinations.
Section 1024 allows the CFPB to define “larger participants” in any “market for other consumer financial products or services.” The CFPB does not have to determine the importance of an industry or its impact on consumers. It seems that the CFPB must only determine that the industry deals in consumer financial products and services.