Is CFPB's data freeze about security or a political ploy?
Staff Attorney Lena Mualla is quoted in a Jan. 11 American Banker story, “Is CFPB's data freeze about security or a political ploy?” The story discusses the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (“CFPB’s”) recent freeze on collecting personally identifiable information (“PII”) from companies it supervises and the ramifications of the decision. Mualla, who is a former CFPB attorney, said the PII is the lynchpin of the agency’s enforcement actions, mentioning that the impact of the freeze could be dramatic. She is quoted saying, "It's really important. It's the genesis of any kind of process of going forward with an enforcement action. It could be extensive, especially if is going to affect the complaint database, which remains to be seen."