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By Andrew Caplan, Nathalie Prescott, Mercedes K. Tunstall

For financial institutions that have been operating under the weight of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for the past five years—with its aggressive enforcement actions and prolific rulemakings—a Trump administration may seem like welcome news. Indeed, a core tenet of the still-evolving Donald Trump agenda is to roll back the pace and coverage of federal regulations generally, and banking regulations in particular. The president-elect has at times even called for complete repeal of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Great Recession-era financial reform law that, among other things, gave life to the CFPB.

Notwithstanding this strong rhetoric, we can expect that President-elect Trump’s developing federal agenda may in many respects be shaped by his vice president-elect, Indiana Governor Michael Pence, and by extension, congressional Republicans. Prevailing Republican initiatives seek to reform the nascent federal consumer protection watchdog rather than eliminate it. Here, we debunk several potential preconceptions regarding the future status of the CFPB, while also offering an in-depth legal perspective on what we are likely to see under the next administration.

Download: The CFPB under Trump: Debunking Some Preconceptions