By Douglas Gillison, Nupur Anand, Pete Schroeder and Isla Binnie
(Reuters) – At a JPMorgan Townhall meeting on Wednesday, CEO Jamie Dimon was asked if Trump's administration decision to stop work at the Office of Consumer Protection (CFPB) and questioning its existence was good news for the industry .
Dimon told its employees it was difficult for the bank when “policies turn back and forth” and prefer constant policies. The CFPB had some good consumer protection rules, especially in terms of areas such as payday lenders, he said, according to a recording of the meeting that Reuters reviewed, which was not previously reported. Yet he did not mourn for dismantling the agency.
“The only good I will say about the CFPB is that consumer protection rules are good,” Dimon said. He added that the agency had “overcome their authority” and used exile to describe the former CFPB director, Rohit Chopra, Democrat which led an aggressive enforcement campaign against the industry. JPMorgan was among three banks and the CFPB sued in December, claiming a “broad” fraud on Zelle's payment service.
JPMorgan refused to comment. A Chopra spokesman refused to comment.
Established in 2010 to protect consumers after loose mortgage rules and other poor industry practices lead to the 2008 financial crisis, the CFPB has been revoked by Conservatives and the industry, which has been accused of overlap and enforcement action invasive.
Even so, its sudden undoing over a weekend by the Trump administration, including from the Government Efficiency Department (DOGE) led by Elon Musk, causes agitation among those it regulates, according to half a dozen people who Either advise or work in Banks or financial technology companies regulated by the CFPB.
Sudden SWATH WORK has results: it leaves a lot of consumer finance, from mortgage companies to, unsupervised payment apps, and removes a location where users could file complaints about their providers. It also leaves many investigations hanging in the balance, according to industry advisers as well as several current and previous CFPB staff.
In the industry, which has had a host of conversations to assess the impact of the CFPB spying, concern is emerging that a patchwork of state regulators could undertake issues that the CFPB had led, perhaps leaving them With even more burdensome demands, the industry insights of the industry said.
Some executives also raised concerns during industry calls for Doge access to their proprietary data that CFPB collects and questioned who the Musk team was accountable to, given the billionaire entrepreneur plans for its own competitive payments business , says one public policy executive in a fintech company.
Musk and President Donald Trump have both said that the role of the entrepreneur in Doge presents any conflict of interest.
The CFPB has a large amount of data, including confidential supervision reports, examination findings, investigative records and compliance records that include customer information, their accounts, transaction stories and product preferences.
Industry executives said they were concerned about the lack of the appearance of a scheme in place.
“That's something that banks have always been concerned about – regulating patchwork rather than knowing who you are dealing with,” said James Ballentine, a former lobbyist with the American Bankers Association trade group who is now running her consulting company itself. “It's easy to say, 'Let's get rid of something,' but there's a plan in place.”
White House spokespeople, CFPB, and Doge did not respond to requests for comments. Musk did not respond to a request for attention.
Regulatory void
Whether the agency continues to exist in some form and what its function would still be. The White House nominated Jonathan McKernan, a former member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, as full -time Director of the CFPB, leading some analysts to suspect that the administration does not want to completely eliminate it. McKernan did not respond to a request for attention.
The industry's mixed feelings of relief and anxiety underlines how the sweeping re -making of the Trump administration of the federal government is likely to lead to consequences that they are not fully understood.
On Tuesday, the chairman of the Federal Fund Jerome Powell told Congress that no other federal regulator was forcing several Consumer Finance Acts in his absence. Some experts said that the regulatory space could leave Americans daily vulnerable to predatory practices, especially from the lightly regulated financial industry parts and eroding trust in general.
“Banking is about trust, and it is an industry that ruines regulatory uncertainty,” said Matthew Biben, who co-determines the global financial services company of the law firm King & Spalding. “So the longer -term question is, 'What impact will the new direction have on consumer trust and regulatory assurance for market participants?”
Books closed, abandoned laptops
While the writing is on the wall for the CFPB, the speed of events has left the industry and staffers stunned.
On February 7, Friday evening, Trump appointed Russell Vought as Acting Director of the CFPB. Vought, who is also the Director of Trump's budget, was a project architects 2025, a Conservative manifesto published by the Heritage Foundation who called for the abolition of the CFPB.
A spokesman for the Management and Budget Office, which led, did not respond to a request for attention.
Vought quickly ordered to close the temporary agency. One of the CFPB staff said they had been given so much notice that many workers had left their laptops and personal effects, such as family pictures, children's artwork, on their desks.
Another member of staff said hundreds of bank examiners who were about to explore the books in banks and other financial companies on Monday had to change travel plans. Forced attorneys turned off their computers midway through document reviews on investigations, this person said.
This week, those who are challenging or facing action by the CFPB were trying to find out if they would have to continue pursuit or defense against those cases. Cases are planned against companies including Capital One, accused of cheating customers in high interest accounts; Meta, who said it was being explored for advertising financial products; and Experian, who is facing legal proceedings claiming to have abused complaints.
Meta rejected attention. Experian and Capital One did not respond to requests for comments.
“There are many organizations that are currently under investigation that wonder what it means … and if possible, the investigations will be closed,” said Anastasia Stull, a partner at Stinson Law Firm, representing financial clients including those involved in legal proceedings with the CFPB.
