Author Archives: Jeff Sovern

Adam Levitin’s American Banker Op-ed: Those seeking to bring down the CFPB should be careful what they wish for

Here. Behind a paywall, but also available on Lexis. Excerpt:  * * *The Fifth Circuit is claiming the CFPB wields broader regulatory authority than the Fed, a full-fledged bank regulator that engages in rulemaking and enforcement, operates the payment systems that are the backbone of the economy, and regulates monetary policy and employment. This is […]

Op-ed: Banks fight for the right to discriminate

by Jeff Sovern Here, in the NY Daily News. My latest op-ed. Excerpt: You might not expect that in the year 2022, businesses would go to court asserting a right to discriminate. Yet that is essentially what the Chamber of Commerce and various banking groups did last month when they sued the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The […]

Fifth Circuit decision creating issues in other CFPB cases

That's the takeaway from Evan Weinberger's Bloomberg Law report, CFPB Funding Decision Is Grist for Agency Enforcement Fights. Excerpt: At least two companies targeted in CFPB enforcement actions have already pointed to the ruling to ask other courts to dismiss the actions on constitutional grounds. Others will wield the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth […]

Mark Lemley paper proposes presumption that standard form contracts cannot vary contract law defaults

Mark A. Lemley of Stanford has written The Benefit of the Bargain. Here's the abstract: Contract law has lost its way. Designed as a way to allow people to agree, it has over time become a means for large businesses to unilaterally impose terms and conditions on others. In large part that is a function of […]

CFP: AALS Section of Financial Institutions & Consumer Financial Services’ FinReg Conference

We received the following Call for Papers: The AALS Section of Financial Institutions & Consumer Financial Services will host the first AALS FinReg Conference on November 4, 2022, in person, at the Antonin Scalia Law School, in Arlington, Virginia. This annual workshop brings together scholars focused on financial regulation to present their scholarly works. We […]

Chamber of Commerce and bank groups sue CFPB for using unfairness power to pursue discriminatory conduct

by Jeff Sovern As we have previously discussed, the CFPB takes the position when supervising banks that discrimination is unfair within the meaning of the Consumer Financial Protection Act. As reported by Bloomberg's Evan Weinberger, the Chamber of Commerce, the American Bankers Association, the Consumer Bankers Association, and others have now sued the CFPB in […]

Article on #Fintok and FinReg

Nikita Aggarwal of UCLA, D. Bondy Valdovinos Kaye of the University of Leeds, and Christopher K. Odinet of Iowa have written #Fintok and Financial Regulation, forthcoming in the Arizona State Law Journal. Here's the abstract: Social media platforms are becoming an increasingly important site for consumer finance. This phenomenon is referred to as “FinTok,” a reference […]

Study examines whether data breach notification laws work

Aniket Kesari of NYU’s Information Law Institute has written Do Data Breach Notification Laws Work? Here’s the abstract: Over 2.8 million Americans have reported being victims identify theft in recent years, costing the U.S. economy at least $13 billion in 2020. In response to this growing problem, all 50 states have enacted some form of data […]

CFP for Berkeley Consumer Law Scholars Conference extended to 9/23

The abstract & outline submission deadline for the Consumer Law Scholars Conference has been extended to next Friday, September 23. Please see below for the information we received with submission instructions. Abstracts & Outlines Due September 23 Please consult the conference webpage for more information on the conference format, important dates, and expectations for abstract […]