Registry of company and court order information would help the agency identify and mitigate risks to American households.

The CFPB proposal would require certain nonbank financial firms to register with the CFPB when they become subject to certain local, state, or federal consumer financial protection agency or court orders. The CFPB has further proposed to publish the orders and company information via an online registry. Larger companies subject to the CFPB’s supervisory authority would be required to designate an individual to attest whether the firm is adhering to registered law enforcement orders. 

While the CFPB might later consider collecting or publishing the information described in the proposal from insured banks and credit unions, there is currently greater need to collect this information from nonbanks under its jurisdiction. Among other things, the identity and size of all insured banks and credit unions are known to the CFPB. Also, there are only four federal prudential regulators for insured banks and credit unions, and they regularly publish their consumer financial protection orders. In contrast, comprehensive, readily accessible information is lacking about the identity of orders issued against nonbanks subject either to the CFPB’s market monitoring authority or to its supervisory authority across the various markets for consumer financial products and services.