This week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) released a memo to staff outlining its new supervision and enforcement priorities for 2025.
New Priorities for 2025
In this memo, Chief Legal Officer Mark R. Paoletta outlined the CFPB’s new supervision and enforcement priorities. Key points include:
- Reduction in Supervisory Exams
- The Bureau will decrease the overall number of supervisory exams by 50% to reduce the cost of running businesses and consumer prices. The focus will be on conciliation, correction, and remediation of harms subject to consumer complaints.
- Shift Back to Depository Institutions
- The CFPB will shift its focus back to depository institutions. In 2012, 70% of the Bureau’s supervision focused on banks and depository institutions, but this has since changed, with over 60% of examinations performed on nonbanks. The Bureau aims to return to the 2012 proportion and focus on the largest banks and depository institutions.
- Focus on Actual Fraud
- The Bureau will prioritize cases involving actual fraud against consumers, with identifiable victims and measurable damages. Key areas include:
- Mortgages (highest priority)
- FCRA/Reg V related to data furnishing violations
- FDCPA/Reg F related to consumer contracts/debts
- Various fraudulent overcharges and fees
- Inadequate controls to protect consumer information resulting in actual loss
- Redress for Tangible Harm
- The CFPB will focus on getting money back directly to consumers rather than imposing penalties to fill the Bureau’s penalty fund.
- Support for Service Members and Veterans
- The Bureau will prioritize providing redress to service members, their families, and veterans.
- Respect for Federalism
- The Bureau will deprioritize participation in multi-state exams unless required by statute and minimize duplicative enforcement where state regulators are already engaged.
- Coordination with Other Federal Agencies
- The CFPB will eliminate duplicative supervision and coordinate exam timing with other federal regulators.
- Avoidance of Novel Legal Theories
- The Bureau will not pursue supervision under novel legal theories and will focus on areas clearly within its statutory authority.
- Fair Lending Enforcement
- The Bureau will not engage in redlining or bias assessment supervision based solely on statistical evidence. It will pursue matters with proven intentional racial discrimination and identified victims.
The CFPB’s new priorities reflect a significant shift in focus, emphasizing collaboration with supervised entities, reducing regulatory burdens, and targeting tangible consumer harms. Along with the rest of the industry, we will see how these changes are manifested in the Bureau’s on-the-ground behavior in the coming months.
