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TH E M R EP O RT | 61 O R I G I NAT I O N S E R V I C I N G DATA G O V E R N M E N T S E C O N DA R Y M A R K E T THE LATEST GOVERNMENT Bureau Launches New Effort to Promote Competition and Innovation The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau is closing one office but opening another to promote competition and innovation in consumer finance. T he Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced the creation of a new of- fice, thus forth called "the Office of Competition and Innovation," to "spur innovation in financial services by promoting competi- tion and stumbling blocks for new market entrants." The creation of the new office coincides with the closure of the Office of Innovation, which focused on an "application-based process to confer special regulator treatment on individual compa- nies." The Office of Innovation opened four years ago in 2018. The intent behind the new office is to support a broader initiative by the CFPB to analyze obstacles to open markets, better understand how big players are squeezing out smaller players, host incubation events, and, in general, to make it easier for people to switch financial providers. "Competition is one of the best forms of motivation. It can help companies innovate and make their products better, and their customers happier," said Rohit Chopra, CFPB Director. "We will be looking at ways to clear obstacles and pave the path to help people have more options and more easily make choices that are best for their needs." The CFPB has a statutory man- date to promote fair, transparent, and competitive markets. Digital technology is constantly chang- ing the market, and the Office of Competition and Innovation will focus on how to create market conditions where consumers have a choice of the best products available and large incumbents cannot stifle competition by exploiting their network effects or market power. The new office will support the CFPB's general effort at increasing competition for the benefit of all consumers. Specifically, the CFPB will: Give consumers their walk- ing rights to switch providers: Competition is more vibrant when people can switch to a new provider easily, creating pres- sure on incumbents to maintain high levels of service and giving new entrants an opportunity to win customers. The CFPB will be exploring ways to reduce the barriers to switching accounts and providers. Research structural problems blocking successes: The new office will be housed in the CFPB's Research, Markets, and Regulation division, giving it greater access to resources to look at market-struc- ture problems that create obstacles to innovation. For example, this could include greater explorations of the payment networks market or the credit reporting system, both of which are essential to our financial system but have only a few dominant players. Understand how bigger players can gain advantage over smaller players: Sometimes start-ups simply get runover by bigger play- ers. For example, big companies can easily pitch new products to their large customer bases and stymie outside players who may have more favorable products. Big tech companies, with their huge reaches, are also seeking new ways to join consumer finance markets and may threaten fair competition. Identify ways to address com- monplace obstacles: Innovators may not be getting their products or services to market because of more practical problems like access to capital or talent. Or they may not launch because they don't have access to the large volumes of digital data stored by the big banks. A future rulemak- ing by the CFPB under Section 1033 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act will give consum- ers access to their own data. Host events to explore barriers to entry and other obstacles: The new office will convene events such as open houses, sprints, hackathons, tabletop exercises, and war games. Entrepreneurs, small business owners, and technol- ogy professionals will be able to collaborate, explore obstacles, and share frustrations with govern- ment regulators. Results will be shared publicly. The CFPB is also encourag- ing companies, start-ups, as well as members of the public to file rulemaking petitions to ask for greater clarity on particular rules. This will help level the playing field and foster competition by ensuring any actions the CFPB takes will apply to all companies in the market. Fannie Mae Issues $5 Million to Help Advance Racial Equity in Housing The latest issuance of the 2022 Sustainable Communities Innovation Challenge, in an effort to further advance racial equity in housing, will implement and remove barriers currently preventing many households from purchasing or renting a home. F annie Mae today an- nounced the launch of its 2022 Sustainable Communities Innovation Challenge (IC22), the company's second such initiative, committing $5 million to attract innovative ideas that will help advance racial equity in housing. The company expects to receive proposals from across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors and from individuals and teams focused on addressing supply, funding, and credit barriers. "Fannie Mae is proud to launch the next iteration of the Innovation Challenge and support innovative projects that promote racial equity in housing in the United States," said Maria Evans, VP of Community Impact, Fannie Mae. "The housing journey var- ies depending on who you are, with some people experiencing multiple obstacles as they try to access housing. The Innovation Challenge aims to address those barriers." Continued