This January post discussed Governor Newsom's proposal to rename the Department of Business Oversight. While I am no fan of the current moniker, I do not favor the Governor's new name - Department of Financial Protection and Innovation.

The name is simply too long. Moreover, changing the name will necessitate the amendment of countless statutes, rules and forms. This is will take years of pointless effort.

More fundamentally, the name is similar to the names used by fraudsters.  Just yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it has updated its Public Alert: Unregistered Soliciting Entities (PAUSE) list. Among the fictitious regulatory names are several that are uncomfortably similar to the Governor's chosen name, including Financial Protection Commission, Global Financial Protection Commission, Intercontinental Financial Protection Commission, Union Financial Protection Commission, and United Financial Protection Commission.