The Federal Financial Forum

Editor’s Note: The complete GAO report, CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU: Observations from Small Business Review Panels, GAO-16-647 is available here. Below is an excerpt.

From GAO

GAO interviewed 57 of the 69 small entity representatives who participated in the four SBREFA panels GAO reviewed and found they generally believed the process was useful but also that it could be improved.  . . . While 36 of 57 stated CFPB at least partially considered their comments in its rulemakings, most representatives expressed disagreement with CFPB’s final rules for reasons such as increased cost of compliance. Specifically, 7 of 57 were satisfied with CFPB’s final rules. . . .

Editor’s Note: Cross-posted from OIRA Watch.

From: The Wall Street Journal

Consumer-finance agency’s complaint portal generates results—and controversy

By Yuka Hayashi

***

Some industry officials and Republican lawmakers say the database is rife with inaccurate information and doesn’t protect consumer privacy. The effort, some say, exemplifies government overreach, increases company expenses and undermines companies’ own procedures for handling customer complaints.

Grumbling intensified last year when the CFPB started publishing the narratives of complaints, a step that opponents say Congress didn’t authorize.

Read Complete Article

From: CrowdfundInsider

By Robert Wardrop & Tania Ziegler

Across Europe, crowdfunding is quickly moving from a fringe funding instrument to becoming a mainstream – finance channel, connecting “crowds” to fund businesses, projects and individuals. In its recently published Report on Crowdfunding in the EU Capital Markets Union, the European Commission details the importance of crowdfunding as “an important source of non-bank financing in support of job creation, economic growth and competitiveness” (European Commission 2016). While there remains no harmonised regulatory framework applicable to crowdfunding across Europe, individual mem- ber states have adopted national regulatory approaches to supervise crowdfunding activities – “tailoring their regulatory frameworks to the characteristics and needs of local markets and investors, which results in differences on how the rules are designed and implemented” (European Commission 2016, 4-5). This article will focus on the regulatory regime in the United Kingdom that regulates and supervises online alternative finance activities that fall under the crowdfunding umbrella.

From: ACA International