Rep. Frank Moving Ahead on CFPA

House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., said he is working with small banks and credit unions to craft a bill that will create a new consumer protection agency. Many financial services groups and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have lined up against the creation of a new agency that would write and enforce the rules for mortgage and other forms of consumer lending. But chairman Frank is trying to get small depositories on his side as his committee prepares to mark up a Consumer Financial Protection Agency bill on Sept. 23. "We are working with them on legitimate concerns and I am confident we will get a tough enforcement agency to protect consumers," Rep. Frank said in an interview with Bloomberg News. The Independent Community Bankers of America has been talking with Rep. Frank. "We have offered our ideas. We will have to see how far he goes," said ICBA's top lobbyist Steve Verdier. The Financial Services Roundtable opposes the idea of stripping the federal bank regulators of their consumer protection functions and giving the CFPA enforcement and rulemaking authority over national banks. "The better answer to consumer protection is to amend the charters of the existing prudential regulators, giving consumer protection parity with safety and soundness regulation," Roundtable president and chief executive Steve Bartlett said.