Friday, January 11, 2013

Banking Lobby Extracts Benefits from Consumer Protector

Turning lemons into lemonade: that could aptly characterize the strategy of the banking lobby as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was promulgating a broad set of mortgage rules that were announced in January 2013. Rather than merely seeking to minimize more onerous standards, the industry sought to insulate itself as much as possible from getting sued by borrowers. Ignoring the rather obvious self-interest of the banks, the new regulators accepted the bankers’ claim that the legal protection was necessary for the banks to be willing to produce mortgages.
The full essay is at "Banking Lobby."