A Matter of Trust: Connecting Consumer Protections and Financial Reform

Elizabeth Warren, Chair of the TARP Congressional Oversight Panel and Harvard Law Professor, was the featured speaker at this event. Professor Warren outlined what she sees as the necessary components of an effective consumer financial protection regulation reform and then discussed these and related issues with journalist David Corn of Mother Jones.

Professor Warren discussed the need for substantive reform in regards to consumer financial regulation and called for the establishment of a consumer financial protection agency with the ability to enforce strict regulatory policies regarding the services banks and other consumer credit institutions can and cannot offer to consumers. She stood firm in her convictions regarding the creation of an agency with actual authority to enforce regulatory reform- responding to a question from the audience she commented that “a watchdog without teeth is not effective.”

Professor Warren also advocated against what she calls the “complexity machine”, the obscuring and intentional complication of consumer financial products to the point that Americans are no longer able to discern their best options and the smokescreen of complexity surrounding financial reform on the Hill. She promoted a move towards transparency in the consumer financial sector that would allow consumers to once again establish a relationship of trust with their banking institutions—bolstered by the firm oversight of a regulatory agency.

In a lighter moment, Professor Warren demurred when asked if she would consider running for the United States Senate seat from Massachusetts, Professor responded by saying, “Yes, that, or I can stab myself in the eye.”

Mr. Corn asked Professor Warren if she was surprised by the amount of energy and financial resources larger financial institutions were channeling into anti-reform lobbying efforts. Professor Warren commented that much of the funding being used in anti-reform lobbying by banks came from the pockets of ordinary American families. Later, when answering a question from the audience, she went on to support a consumer finance protection campaign that reaches the American people and focuses on the ways in which many people have been negatively affected by harmful banking practices.

Participants

Featured Speaker
Elizabeth Warren
Chair, TARP Congressional Oversight Panel
Professor of Law, Harvard University

Discussant
David Corn
Washington Bureau Chief, Mother Jones

Moderator
Reid Cramer
Director, Asset Building Program, New America Foundation