Consumer Finance Monitor Celebrates 15 Years Of Covering The Consumer Financial Services Industry

Today marks a milestone that is professionally meaningful to our Consumer Financial Services Group. Fifteen years ago, on July 21, 2011, the very day the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) officially opened its doors and began operations, Ballard Spahr launched ConsumerFinanceMonitor.com.

At the time, we believed that the creation of the CFPB would fundamentally reshape the consumer financial services industry. It was apparent that banks, nonbanks, FinTech companies, mortgage lenders and servicers, credit card issuers, auto finance companies, debt collectors, debt buyers, consumer reporting agencies, payment providers, and countless other participants in the financial services marketplace would need timely, practical, and thoughtful analysis of the Bureau’s actions and the rapidly evolving regulatory landscape.

We also believed there was an opportunity to provide that analysis in a new way. Consumer Finance Monitor became the first blog launched by Ballard Spahr, reflecting the firm’s commitment to delivering legal insights in real time rather than waiting for traditional client alerts.

Over the past 15 years, the blog has chronicled virtually every major development affecting the consumer financial services industry. We have written thousands of posts analyzing:

• CFPB rulemakings, enforcement actions, supervisory developments, and litigation;
• Significant federal and state legislation affecting consumer financial services;
• Important decisions issued by the U.S. Supreme Court, federal courts of appeals, district courts, and state appellate courts;
• Regulatory initiatives by federal banking agencies, the FTC, state attorneys general, and state financial regulators;
• The rapid evolution of FinTech, artificial intelligence, payments, open banking, and digital assets; and
• Emerging issues that often become tomorrow’s headline developments.

The blog has also followed the CFPB through every chapter of its history—from its launch under Director Richard Cordray, through the leadership of Mick Mulvaney, Kathy Kraninger, Rohit Chopra, and now the Bureau’s dramatic transformation under the current Administration. Few could have imagined in July 2011 how much the agency and the industry it regulates would evolve over the next decade and a half.

While the CFPB has always occupied center stage, beginning with President Trump’s first term in office our name was changed from CFPBMonitor to Consumer Finance Monitor and our coverage was expanded to cover all important developments legal developments in the consumer financial services area, not just the CFPB. Consumer Finance Monitor has become a resource for developments involving federal banking regulators (including the CFPB, FTC, OCC, FRB AND FDIC), state regulators, Congress, the courts, and the many issues that affect providers of consumer financial products and services.

One of the most gratifying aspects of this journey has been the opportunity to engage with our readers, clients, in-house counsel, regulators, academics, journalists, and other practitioners have made Consumer Finance Monitor part of their daily routine. We are deeply grateful for your readership, your comments, your questions, and your continued support.

The blog has also served as the foundation for other educational initiatives. In 2017, we launched the Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast, which has grown into one of the leading law firm podcasts covering consumer financial services. Through hundreds of episodes featuring regulators, academics, industry leaders, consumer advocates, and our own lawyers, we have continued our mission of helping our audience understand not only what is happening, but why it matters.

Alan Kaplinsky, founder and former practice group leader and now Senior Counsel of the Consumer Financial Services Group stated: “When we launched our Consumer Finance Monitor blog in 2011 and podcast show in 2011, our goals were to be the (a) first law firm to create a blog and a podcast show devoted to legal developments pertaining to consumer financial services area and (b) best in class. We have achieved both goals as has been recognized by the numerous awards and accolades we have received. I am very proud of these achievements which involved many members of our Group.”

Looking back, it is remarkable that the histories of Consumer Finance Monitor and the CFPB began on precisely the same day. For fifteen years, the blog has documented the Bureau’s evolution from a newly created federal agency into one of the most influential and, at times controversial, financial regulators in the country. As the CFPB enters what may be its most consequential period of change since its creation, we remain committed to providing timely, objective, and practical analysis of these developments.

On behalf of everyone who has contributed to Consumer Finance Monitor over the past fifteen years, thank you for reading, subscribing, and participating in this ongoing conversation. We are proud of what we have accomplished together and look forward to continuing to serve the consumer financial services community in the years ahead.

Here’s to the next chapter!