The CFPB has announced that its Consumer Advisory Board (CAB) will hold a meeting in Jackson, Mississippi on September 18, 2013. The CFPB’s flyer for the event states that “CAB members will engage with invited community and industry panelists and facilitate a conversation about innovative strategies to improve consumer access to credit, information and financial resources.” There will also be remarks by Director Cordray and CAB members.  

While the CFPB’s announcement states that the event is open to the public, the agenda indicates that only the CAB Public Session that begins in the morning of the first day of the meeting will be open to the public and the CFPB “will issue a summary of the board’s activities during the closed sessions.” According to the agenda, the closed sessions include a discussion of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, a “Working Lunch: Policy Discussion” at which the speakers will be Director Cordray and Patrice Ficklin, Assistant Director of the CFPB’s Office of Fair Lending, and a “Policy Discussion” at which the speakers will be Director Cordray and David Silberman, Associate Director of the CFPB’s Research, Markets and Regulations Division.

Given that the CFPB prides itself on being completely transparent, we question why it has decided to hold the meeting behind closed doors.