The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is creating a task force of outsiders to research and identify potential conflicts and inconsistencies in consumer finance law.
The bureau on Friday announced the creation of a seven-member task force with a chair and six members that will identify gaps in existing laws. The task force will produce research and provide legal analysis on "harmonizing, modernizing, and updating" the enumerated consumer credit laws.
“An objective and independent evaluation of our current regulatory framework to identify where there may be gaps or where regulation should be simplified or modernized is needed to help us more effectively carry out our mission of protecting consumers,” CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger said in a press release. “As we work to set up the taskforce, we encourage interested individuals to apply to be considered to be part of the taskforce.”
The CFPB currently employs a team of economists, market analysts and rule writers in its research, markets and regulations division.
The agency said it modeled the task force on a national commission created after the passage in 1968 of the Consumer Credit Protection Act. That commission conducted original research and provided recommendations to Congress on the regulation of consumer credit.
The bureau said it will select members of the task force who have “demonstrated records of both senior public service and expertise in consumer finance.”
It is unclear whether political appointees will play a role. The CFPB said the task force will “bring on detailees from across the bureau and federal government.”
Compensation also may be available to task force members, the CFPB said. Applications are due by Oct. 25.
