Overview
Steptoe partner Benjamin Saul was quoted by Law360 in an article titled "CFPB's Debanking Push Puts Enforcement Reset To The Test." The article discusses how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has launched a high-profile effort to investigate alleged discriminatory "debanking" practices, signaling increased regulatory scrutiny of how banks make decisions about customer access to financial services. However, the agency may face significant hurdles in pursuing enforcement, including questions about its jurisdiction, the scope of existing anti-discrimination laws, and its ability to prove measurable consumer harm. Ben explains that "In enforcement, the bureau's jurisdiction is limited to 'covered persons.’ [This term is defined primarily as] offering or providing a consumer financial product or service, so to the extent these are commercial products, that will act as a potential jurisdictional limiter."
Read more at Law360.
