On February 16, 2012, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) launched a new initiative, dubbed the Streamlining Regulations Feedback Web Tool.

According to the Bureau, the tool will enable the public and financial institutions alike to more easily submit suggestions for streamlining regulations that the CFPB received from other Federal agencies on July 21, 2011, which the Bureau calls inherited regulations.

In effect, the Bureau is seeking comments and suggestions about existing regulations. The goal is to identify provisions of the regulations that the CFPB should make the "highest priority" for updating, modifying, or eliminating because they are outdated, unduly burdensome, or unnecessary.

The purpose of the Feedback Tool is to create one means by which the agency may consider ways to reduce the burdens imposed by existing regulations without reducing actual financial protection to consumers.

This newsletter provides a general outline of the ways and means by which the CFPB will use the information derived from the Feedback Tool, other sources, and an overview of the Federal Register Notice of Streamlining Project of December 5, 2011.

ARTICLE SECTIONS

-Proposal in the Federal Register

-Suggestions Criteria

-Suggestions Factors

-Potential Streamlining Opportunities

-Streamlining Regulations Feedback Web Tool

-Public View