Comptroller Statement on Meeting with the Acting Director of the CFPB

WASHINGTON—Comptroller of the Currency Joseph M. Otting today issued the following statement after meeting with Mick Mulvaney, Office of Management and Budget Director and Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Today, Acting Director of the CFPB Mick Mulvaney and I met and discussed ways the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the CFPB can work together to ensure the nation’s banking system continues to meet the needs of consumers, businesses, and communities across the country. We also explored how to improve our agency’s coordination to make supervision more efficient and to ensure banks continue to treat customers fairly and comply with laws and regulations.

I have been impressed with Mick’s leadership and emphasis on operational efficiency and excellence. I share his willingness to reevaluate practices and programs that result in regulatory overreach and unnecessary burden that adversely affect banks’ ability to serve their customers. We have a common belief that our financial system functions best, when it works for everyone—meeting the financial needs of consumers and businesses, creating jobs, and fueling economic growth. Our jobs as regulators is to help our system fulfill its important role in society by ensuring it operates in a safe and sound manner and treats customers fairly. But, unnecessary regulatory burden is a waste that places a drag on our entire economy without making the system safer or fairer.

Acting Director Mulvaney has helped reduce the burden on the banking system by delaying implementation of his agency’s Home Mortgage Disclosure Act rule, committing to reconsidering its payday lending rule, and deferring action on additional regulations until completing a more thorough review of those matters. I also applaud him for realigning his agency’s mission to the current needs of the nation, making its processes more transparent and fair. I look forward to continuing to work with Mick as colleagues, as Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and as members of the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.