- DSNews - https://dsnews.com -

CFPB Opens New Office to Spur Competition and Innovation

The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau [1] (CFPB) announced the creation of a new office, thus forth called “the Office of Competition and Innovation,” to “spur innovation in financial services by promoting competition and stumbling blocks for new market entrants.” 

The creation of the new office coincides with the closure of the Office of Innovation, which focused on an “application-based process to confer special regulator treatment on individual companies.” The Office of Innovation opened four years ago in 2018. 

The intent behind the new office is to support a broader initiative by the CFPB to analyze obstacles to open markets, better understand how big players are squeezing out smaller players, host incubation events, and, in general, to make it easier for people to switch financial providers. 

“Competition is one of the best forms of motivation. It can help companies innovate and make their products better, and their customers happier,” said Rohit Chopra [2], CFPB Director. “We will be looking at ways to clear obstacles and pave the path to help people have more options and more easily make choices that are best for their needs.” 

The CFPB has a statutory mandate to promote fair, transparent, and competitive markets. Digital technology is constantly changing the market, and the Office Of Competition and Innovation will focus on how to create market conditions where consumers have a choice of the best products available and large incumbents cannot stifle competition by exploiting their network effects or market power. 

The new office will support the CFPB’s general effort at increasing competition for the benefit of all consumers. Specifically, the CFPB will: 

The CFPB is also encouraging companies, start-ups, as well as members of the public to file rulemaking petitions [3] to ask for greater clarity on particular rules. This will help level the playing field and foster competition by ensuring any actions the CFPB takes will apply to all companies in the market.