The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) released a panel report today as part of its rulemaking process under Dodd-Frank Act Section 1071 governing the collection and reporting of small business lending data.
A panel was convened pursuant to the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act, comprised of representatives of the Bureau, the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration, and the Office of Management and Budget. The panel consulted with representatives of small entities likely to be affected directly by a Section 1071 regulation, referred to as small entity representatives or SERs. The SERs provided feedback on the Bureau’s proposals under consideration for Section 1071 and the potential economic impacts of complying with those proposals. The panel and SERs also discussed regulatory alternatives to minimize potential impacts.
In their feedback, SERs were generally supportive of the Bureau’s statutory mission to enact rules under Section 1071 and several SERs stated that a 1071 rulemaking is necessary to better understand the small business lending market. Further, SERs requested, and the panel agreed, that, among other things, the Bureau should issue implementation and guidance materials specifically to assist small financial institutions in complying with an eventual Section 1071 rule, and to consider providing sample disclosure language.
The feedback from small entity representatives and the panel’s findings and recommendations will be used by the Bureau as it prepares a notice of proposed rulemaking to implement Section 1071. Feedback on the Bureau’s proposals under consideration submitted by other stakeholders will also be considered as part of the rulemaking process.
The panel report can be found here: https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_1071-sbrefa-report.pdf
Additional materials related to this rulemaking are available here: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/1071-rule/