Elizabeth Warren’s Remarks to the National Association of Attorneys General

4/11/2011

Presidential Initiative Summit

Charlotte, NC

As Prepared for Delivery

Thank you, Roy, for that introduction, and thank you to NAAG for inviting me to speak with you about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Last fall in Florida, I had the chance to meet many of you. I appreciated the good conversation, the thoughtful ideas, and the good food – so I’m back for more.

Just last month, Rich Cordray, the former Ohio Attorney General and now the CFPB’s Assistant Director for Enforcement, spoke with you at NAAG’s 2011 spring meeting. He discussed the five main objectives that Congress set for the consumer bureau. Rich usually heads in smart directions, so I thought I’d follow his lead and pick up where he left off by discussing in greater detail how the CFPB can continue to work with the attorneys general to accomplish those objectives.

Our mission is simple: Make the consumer financial markets work for American families. As Rich discussed last month, we’re taking a two-pronged approach to fixing these broken markets.

First, the consumer bureau is working to make it easier for a family to see the costs and risks of a product up front, not buried somewhere among pages and pages of fine print. We believe consumers should be able to compare one product to two or three others. Where regulations are outdated, unnecessary, or provide little or no benefit to consumers, the consumer bureau can streamline the rules. Where regulations allow consumers to fall through the cracks, or businesses to gain unfair advantage, the CFPB can plug those holes to protect consumers and to level the playing field.

Second, the consumer bureau will help enforce the law. Let me say that again: The consumer bureau will help enforce the law. I emphasize this second point because I think everyone in this room is aware of the deep structural problems that impeded both state and federal cooperation and effective federal enforcement of consumer protection laws in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis.

Under the Dodd-Frank Act, federal authority to enforce the laws for most of the consumer financial marketplace will soon be consolidated into one agency: the CFPB. Because of that consolidation, there will now be an agency that is fully accountable for getting the job done. And because we will be accountable, we plan to put in place a rigorous program of consumer compliance supervision coupled with strong enough enforcement to ensure compliance. Law enforcement will be foundational to our success.

We believe that Congress is behind us on this mission. As part of Dodd-Frank, non-bank mortgage lenders and payday lenders will be subject to significant federal law enforcement for the first time ever. As a result, we can eliminate the sort of patchwork of rules and enforcement that permitted some lenders to hit-and-run as they shifted locations and charters. Now we will have the tools to deal effectively with some of the worst abuses. On the issue of law enforcement, we are putting our money where our mouth is. We are planning for more than half of the consumer bureau’s resources to be devoted to ensuring consistent compliance with the law. (continued)

Source: www.treasury.gov