CFPB to Host Symposium July 29

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) announced today that it will hold a symposium on the use of cost-benefit analysis in consumer financial protection regulation on July 29, 2020 at 9:30 a.m. The event will be webcast on the Bureau’s website.

The symposium is intended to seek perspectives on the use of cost-benefit analysis in consumer financial protection regulations. The Bureau is exploring developments in the cost-benefit analysis arena and will consider lessons that may be useful as it nears the start of its second decade of work.

The event will feature remarks by Bureau Director Kathleen L. Kraninger. This symposium will consist of two panels of experts. The first panel will consider questions related to how the Bureau should use cost-benefit analysis in developing consumer financial regulations and whether the Bureau’s practices provide the proper incentives for the best use and reporting of cost-benefit analysis. The panel will be moderated by Susan Singer, deputy assistant director in the Bureau’s Office of Research. The panel experts are:

• Jerry Ellig, research professor, George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center
• Stephen W. Hall, legal director and securities specialist, Better Markets
• Brian Hughes, executive vice president and chief risk officer, Discover Financial Services
• Howell Jackson, professor of law, Harvard Law School
• Amit Narang, regulatory policy advocate, Public Citizen

The second panel will focus on how the Bureau may help advance the methodology of cost-benefit analysis for consumer financial regulation. The panel may also consider the data and economic models that should be developed for cost-benefit analysis of consumer financial regulation, how to address distributional concerns, and how to partner with others in this work. The panel will be moderated by Paul Rothstein, financial institutions and regulatory policy section chief in the Bureau’s Office of Research. The panel experts are:

• John Coates, professor of law and Economics, Harvard Law School
• Mark Cohen, professor of law, Vanderbilt Law School
• Alex Lee, professor of law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
• Christopher J. Mayer, professor of real estate, Columbia Business School

The symposium is the fifth in a series announced last year to explore consumer protections in today’s dynamic financial services marketplace. The series is aimed at stimulating a proactive and transparent dialogue to assist the Bureau in its policy development process, including possible future rulemakings. The first symposium on June 25, 2019, covered the Dodd-Frank Act’s prohibition on abusive acts or practices. The second symposium on September 19, 2019, covered behavioral law and economics. The third symposium on November 6, 2019, covered Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The fourth symposium on February 26, 2020, covered consumer access to financial records.

Additional information about the event is available here https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/events/cfpb-symposium-cost-benefit-analysis-consumer-financial-protection-regulation/.

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.