The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Credit Union Advisory Council (CUAC) recently conducted a joint session with the Community Bank Advisory Council (CBAC) regarding technology and relationship banking competition.
The meeting delved into the shrinking market and consolidation of core service providers, which CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said represents a risk to small financial institutions and products offered by core processors having rising costs and limited flexibility.
Another topic broached during the meeting was difficulty maintaining basic services as costs amid extreme rising costs and the search for alternatives hampered by complex contracts, punitive cancellation fees, and a consolidated market.
The panels also discussed methods of preventing elder financial exploitation and encouraging age-friendly and financial technology innovations supporting older consumers.
In November, the CFPB hosted a webinar focusing on practices and resources to aid credit unions in engaging with older members while preventing elder financial exploitation.
The agency’s Office for Older Americans provides free initiatives that include voluntary recommendations for preventing and reporting elder financial exploitation; information about Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) involving elder financial exploitation and advisories about various age-friendly banking topics; and education tools such as the Managing Someone Else’s Money guides for financial caregivers, Money Smart for Older Adults scam prevention program and fraud prevention handouts.
The organizations announced that they would continue to work with stakeholders to share credit union feedback and provide insight regarding the regulatory and legislative landscape.