Expansive. The Consumer Financial Protection Act’s ("CFPA") Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection ("Bureau") will not only be big, but it will have broad and sweeping rulemaking authority. Specifically, the Bureau’s Director, once selected and confirmed, will have the power to "prescribe rules . . . as may be necessary or appropriate to enable the Bureau to administer and carry out the purposes and objectives of the Federal consumer laws, and to prevent evasions thereof." The Bureau’s purpose is "ensuring that all consumers have access to markets for consumer financial products and services and that markets for consumer financial products are services are fair, transparent, and competitive." The Bureau’s objectives include exercising its authority to ensure that, among other things:
- consumers get timely and understandable information about consumer financial products;
- outdated and burdensome regulations are modified to reduce unwarranted regulatory burdens;
- the Federal consumer financial law is consistently enforced; and
- consumers are protected from discrimination, and unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts and practices.
In short, the CFPA’s virtually all-encompassing rulemaking power covers almost every aspect of most consumer financial products.