In this special crossover episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast and Regulatory Oversight, Chris Willis, Stefanie Jackman, and Mike Yaghi discuss California Governor Gavin Newsom’s appointment of former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra to lead the state’s newly created Business and Consumer Services Agency (BCSA).
The group discusses Chopra’s oversight of the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI), his broad authority alongside the California attorney general, and what his track record of aggressive, systemic enforcement at the CFPB and FTC might mean for California’s consumer financial services industry going forward. They also get into DFPI’s wide-reaching supervisory and enforcement powers, what companies should be doing to get ready, and whether this move sets Chopra up for a bigger Cabinet-level role down the road in a future Democratic administration.
The episode wraps up with a bigger-picture look at whether federal regulators could swing hard back toward consumer protection enforcement under a future Democratic president.
Transcript: Inside California’s BCSA: Rohit Chopra’s Expanding Role in Consumer Protection (PDF)