The CFPB Can Enhance Certain Practices to Mitigate the Risk of Conflicts of Interest for Division of Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending Employees

The CFPB's Division of Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending is responsible for ensuring certain financial institutions comply with federal consumer financial laws. To maintain public trust in this work, SEFL examiners must remain free of conflicts of interest.

The CFPB can mitigate the risk of conflicts of interest for SEFL examiners by formally adopting a policy to clarify rotation requirements for certain key examiners and by implementing an assignment tracking mechanism to monitor rotations and ensure compliance with the policy. These actions will promote objectivity, cross-training, and broader expertise among examiners while reducing the risk of regulatory capture.

This report includes recommendations.