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US Treasury releases first regulatory report to Trump

Chris Hamblin

22 June 2017

Executive Order 13772 promulgated Trump's "core principles of financial regulation." These are:

Section 2 of the order states that the Secretary of the Treasury has to report to the President within 120 days of the date of the order (3rd February, and periodically thereafter) on the extent to which existing laws, treaties, regulations, guidance, reporting and recordkeeping requirements, and other Government policies promote the principles. That report, and all subsequent reports, shall identify any laws, treaties, regulations, guidance, reporting and recordkeeping requirements, and other Government policies that inhibit Trump's objectives.

In response, the Treasury recommends a significant restructuring of the authority and execution of regulatory responsibilities by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the government agency set up by the Dodd-Frank Act to protect consumers from sharp practice, their own ignorance of the market and other things.

The CFPB, according to the Treasury, was created to pursue an important mission, but its unaccountable structure and unduly broad regulatory powers have led to predictable regulatory abuses and excesses. The Treasury believes that the CFPB’s approach to rulemaking and enforcement has hampered consumers' access to credit, limited innovation and imposed unduly high compliance burdens, particularly on small institutions. The Treasury wants to make the director of the CFPB removable at will by the President or, alternatively, restructure the CFPB as an independent multi-member commission or board. It also wants the Government to fund the CFPB through the annual appropriations process; do something to ensure that regulated entities have adequate notice of CFPB interpretations of law before subjecting them to enforcement actions; and "curb abuses" in investigations and enforcement actions.