A proposal from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has drawn “unanimous fire from a broad coalition of financial companies, as well as from the American Bar Association and the American Civil Liberties Union, which called it unconstitutional. The plan would prohibit targets of civil investigative demands or notice and opportunity to respond and advise letters — CIDs and NORA letters — from disclosing the receipt of such notifications. Legal experts called the proposal a restraint on free speech and warned that it could run afoul of laws that require companies to disclose material information to shareholders.” A second element of the proposal would allow the CFPB to “share privileged information with any ‘federal, state, or foreign governmental authority, or an entity exercising governmental authority’ whenever ‘it is relevant to the exercise of the agency’s statutory or regulatory authority.'” The ABA has sharply criticized the provision as a weakening of attorney-client privilege. [Lorraine Woellert, Politico Pro, reprinted at House Financial Services Committee]

Filed under: CFPB, privilege