WASHINGTON, D.C. -

The American Financial Services Association applauded one of the first actions of 2020 made by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). A Hudson Cook partner is among the four members who will serve on the bureau’s taskforce on federal consumer financial law.

According to a news release distributed by the CFPB this week, the taskforce on federal consumer financial law will examine the existing legal and regulatory environment facing consumers and financial services providers and report to director Kathleen Kraninger its recommendations for ways to improve and strengthen consumer financial laws and regulations. 

The bureau indicated the taskforce will produce new research and legal analysis of consumer financial laws in the United States, focusing specifically on:

— Harmonizing, modernizing and updating the federal consumer financial laws and their implementing regulations

— Identifying gaps in knowledge that should be addressed through research

— Ways to improve consumer understanding of markets and products

— Potential conflicts or inconsistencies in existing regulations and guidance

The taskforce members are:

— Howard Beales III, former professor of strategic management and public policy at George Washington University and former director of the bureau of consumer protection at the Federal Trade Commission

— Thomas Durkin, who retired as senior economist at the Federal Reserve Board

— Jean Noonan, current partner at Hudson Cook and former general counsel at the Farm Credit Administration and former associate director of the bureau of consumer protection’s credit practice at the Federal Trade Commission

— Todd Zywicki, professor of law at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School, senior fellow of the Cato Institute, and former executive director of the GMU Law and Economics Center

The bureau also announced the designation of Zywicki to serve as the chair of the taskforce and the appointment of Matt Cameron to serve as staff director of the taskforce.

“The taskforce will conduct a thorough examination of our current regulatory framework and report on how we can improve federal consumer financial laws to benefit and protect consumers,” Kraninger said. “I look forward to the work the taskforce will undertake and reviewing their recommendations.”

The formation of this group arrived as a welcomed development, according to Bill Himpler, president and chief executive officer of the American Financial Services Association (AFSA).

“AFSA and its members are pleased that the bureau is taking a data-driven, research-based approach to its rule making and supervision,” Himpler said in a statement to SubPrime Auto Finance News. “The last serious and expansive effort to understand the consumer credit marketplace and how consumers access and use credit products was a Congressionally mandated commission on credit more than 50 years ago.

“The consumer credit industry is responsible for more than $1 trillion annually added to our economy, and our hope is that this taskforce will help shape pro-consumer policies that both protect and provide consumers with greater access to the credit products and services they need,” Himpler continued.

“We congratulate those who have committed to this public service, and we look forward to working with the taskforce in the months ahead,” he went on to say.