CFPB To Hold First Symposium On June 25

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced today that its first symposium will be held on June 25 at 9 a.m. The symposium, part of a series announced earlier this year, will focus on the Dodd-Frank Act’s prohibition on abusive acts or practices. The symposium will be webcast on the Bureau’s website. 

The Dodd-Frank Act authorizes the Bureau to take enforcement, supervision, and rulemaking actions concerning unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts and practices (UDAAP). The meaning of abusiveness is less developed than the meaning of unfair or deceptive, which have been defined substantially by the Federal Trade Commission Act. The symposium will provide a public forum for the Bureau and the public to hear various perspectives on the meaning of abusiveness.  

This first symposium will have two panels of UDAAP experts. The symposium will also include remarks by CFPB Director Kathleen L. Kraninger and CFPB Deputy Director Brian Johnson. The first panel will include a discussion with leading academic experts in the area of Consumer Protection on various policy issues relating to the abusive standard under Dodd-Frank. The panel will be moderated by Tom Pahl, CFPB’s Policy Associate Director, Research, Markets and Regulation. The experts on the panel will include:  

• Patricia McCoy, Professor of Law, Boston College Law School
• Todd Zywicki, Professor of Law, George Mason University, Antonin Scalia Law School
• Howard Beales, George Washington University; former Director of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Bureau of Consumer Protection
• Adam Levitin, Professor of Law, Georgetown Law School

The second panel will examine how the abusive standard has been used in practice, and will include leading legal experts in the field. The panel will be moderated by David Bleicken, CFPB Deputy Associate Director, Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending. Experts on the panel will include: 

• William MacLeod, Partner at Kelley Drye; former Director of the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection and Bureau of Competition
• Eric Mogilnicki, Partner at Covington & Burling; former Chief of Staff, Senator Ted Kennedy 
• Lucy Morris, Partner Hudson Cook; former CFPB Deputy Enforcement Director 
• Nicholas Smyth, Assistant Director of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, Senior Deputy Attorney General 

Members of the public that plan to attend the symposium should RSVP at this link: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/events/cfpb-symposium-abusive-acts-or-practices/.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by making rules more effective, by consistently and fairly enforcing those rules, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives. For more information, visit www.consumerfinance.gov.