On Monday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it would begin exercising its legal authority to investigate nonbank financial institutions, applying regulations designed for banks to nonbank entities. In its announcement, the federal agency specifically mentioned its intent to include fintech services in its nonbank supervisory program, stating the intent to “level the playing field between banks and nonbanks.”

“The CFPB should be 100 percent focused on protecting consumers, but automatically slapping old rules on innovative new services may not be the best approach,” said Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevich. “There’s a reason fintech services have seen explosive growth over the past decade  – they’ve created new consumer-friendly products for communities that big banks have a history of ignoring. And forcing new services into old rules would lessen the kind of upstart competition that the Biden Administration has made a point of encouraging.”

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Chamber of Progress (progresschamber.org) is a center-left tech industry policy coalition promoting technology’s progressive future.  We work to ensure that all Americans benefit from technological leaps, and that the tech industry operates responsibly and fairly.  

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