The Bureau of Consumer Financial
Protection (“CFPB” or “Bureau”) is revising its initial Policy on
No-Action Letters (“NAL”) (“2016 Policy”). A NAL is an exercise of
the Bureau’s discretionary authority not to make a supervisory
finding or not bring a supervisory or enforcement action in the
face of statutory or regulatory uncertainty with respect to a
product or service. The revised Policy (“NAL Policy”) will govern
the process for persons to apply for Bureau NALs in connection with
proposed conduct, subject to specified conditions and limitations.
Issuance of NALs under this Policy will be discretionary on the
part of the Bureau. The information will be collected from persons,
primarily businesses or other for-profit entities, who apply for
NALs from the Bureau. The information will be used by the Bureau to
determine whether issuance of a NAL is warranted. The Bureau is
also finalizing its Compliance Assistance Sandbox Policy (“CASP”).
The CASP will govern the process for persons to apply for Bureau
statutory “approvals,” subject to specified conditions and
limitations. Approvals pursuant to this policy are offered to a
regulated entity that confronts statutory or regulatory uncertainty
with the binding assurance from Bureau that specific aspects of a
product or service are compliant with specified legal provisions.
Issuance of approvals will be discretionary on the part of the
Bureau. The information will be collected from persons, primarily
businesses or other for-profit entities, who apply for approvals
from the Bureau. The information will be used by the Bureau to
determine whether issuance of an approval is warranted.
The information collection is
being changed in a number of ways in connection with the revision
of the 2016 Policy and the finalization of the CASP. A number of
the application elements in the 2016 Policy are not included in
either the NAL Policy or the CASP. Several others have been
streamlined. Each of the NAL Policy and the CASP include an
application element regarding requests for the Bureau to coordinate
with other regulators, which was not included in the 2016 Policy.
And the CASP includes several other application elements not
included in the 2016 Policy. The Bureau estimates that due to its
revised NAL Policy and its new CASP it will receive a greater
number of applications than it received under its 2016 NAL Policy.
This accounts for the increase in burden vis-à-vis the 2016
Policy.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.