Page 12 - The GSE Report March-April 2018

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION MJARN.U-ARPYR.20210818
When the Bureau does not have supervisory authority over the CID subject, the Associations recommend that the Bureau utilize all tools in its disposal, including opening research matters or issuing targeted CIDs to more thoroughly vet information before issuance of a more fulsome CID. We also recommend that the Bureau consider ways in which it can better explore pre-investigation resolution with potential subjects.
Finally, regardless of whether the Bureau has supervisory authority over the CID subject, the Associations recommend that the Bureau enhance transparency regarding internal coordination between the Bureau’s various divisions, require more formal approval from the Bureau’s Legal Division (Legal) prior to initiating an investigation, and enhance external coordination with non-Bureau government agencies involved in overlapping investigations before issuance of a CID.
Issuance of CIDs
The Associations recommend that the Bureau increase safeguards to ensure the meaningful review of CIDs by Enforcement prior to issuance, including the requirement that Enforcement considers: (i) the proportionality of the requests to the potential consumer harm; (ii) whether the requests as written are described with sufficient particularity and narrowly targeted; (iii) whether prior CIDs have been issued and the burden associated with responding to the prior CIDs and pending CID; and (iv) whether other government agencies conducting parallel investigations already have issued CIDs or supervisory information requests and the potential overlap between those agencies’ requests and the Bureau’s CID. The Associations also recommend that the Bureau cease utilizing CIDs to “understand” a product or service and consider less burdensome means to do so such as informal requests.
The Associations recommend that the Bureau adopt procedures that ensure that the subject has a full and fair opportunity to respond. This includes considering the days
and times at which CIDs are received, making all deadlines in business days rather than calendar days, and considering a CID to have been served on the following business day if served after 5pm ET.
Finally, the Associations recommend that the Bureau prohibit the transmission of privileged information provided to the Office of Supervision (Supervision) in the examination context to Enforcement.
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