We first discuss the practicalities and potential impact of implementing Director Chopra’s call in a recent blog post for simplification of consumer finance regulations and simple bright-line rules.  We then examine the role and objectives of regulation such as predictability and responsiveness to stakeholder input and consider whether the CFPB’s current approach to regulation, including its abandonment of official staff commentary updates, furthers those objectives.  (The CFPB’s abandonment of commentary updates was the subject of Alan Kaplinsky’s recent blog post: An Open Letter To Rohit Chopra, CFPB Director: Isn’t It Time For The CFPB To Restart Its Best Vehicle For Interpreting The Federal Consumer Financial Laws–The Official Staff Commentaries?)  We also discuss the recent SCOTUS decision in EPA v. West Virginia and consider its implications for future challenges to CFPB actions.

Alan Kaplinsky, Ballard Spahr Senior Counsel, hosts the conversation.

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