FTC and CFPB Sign Updated Agreement to Continue Coordination Under CFPA

On February 25, 2019, the FTC and CFPB executed an updated memorandum of understanding (MOU), in which the agencies agreed to continue to coordinate their actions under the Consumer Financial Protection Act.

According to the MOU, the FTC and CFPB entered into the agreement in an effort to minimize the duplication of efforts.  Specifically, the agencies agreed to coordinate law enforcement activities and conduct joint investigations.  Each agency also agreed to provide the other with notice, within 10 days, of the commencement of an investigation, the filing of an action, the commencement of a proceeding, the resolution of an action or proceeding, the notice of declination to take or defer an action, and the intervention in a law enforcement action.  Additionally, the CFPB agreed to provide the FTC, within 30 days of finalizing, copies of its schedules for annual depository and non-depository examinations.  

Further, the FTC and CFPB agreed to consult with each other throughout the rulemaking process.  The agencies also agreed to coordinate strategic and operational planning, consumer complaint monitoring, consumer education, and research activities.  Moreover, the FTC and CFPB agreed that all nonpublic information shared pursuant to the MOU remained, for the most part, the property of the providing agency, and that both agencies would take all actions reasonably necessary to preserve, protect, and maintain all privileges and claims of confidentially related to all nonpublic information provided pursuant to the MOU.

The two agencies first entered into a memorandum of understanding in January 2012, which has subsequently been reauthorized numerous times.  The most recent MOU stipulates that it will remain in effect unless superseded by the signed, mutual agreement of the agencies.