Shame-Based Supervision as Regulation

Updated: 2025.10.08 14D ago 3 sources
The CFPB can supervise nonbanks on 'reasonable cause' and publicly list firms that contest supervision, imposing reputational costs without proving a violation. This makes publicity a de facto enforcement tool outside normal rulemaking or adjudication. A proposed rule under Acting Director Russ Vought would curb this power. — It shows how agencies can govern through reputational sanctions rather than formal process, raising due‑process and accountability concerns across the administrative state.

Sources

“See No Islamist Evil”
2025.10.08 86% relevant
Jarrett Dieterle highlights the CFPB’s long‑criticized practice of supervising nonbanks on a ‘reasonable cause’ basis and publicly signaling that supervision—then notes a new CFPB proposal to limit this power, directly mirroring the idea that reputational supervision needs statutory guardrails.
A Welcome New Rule Would Limit the CFPB’s Power
Jarrett Dieterle 2025.10.07 100% relevant
CFPB’s 2022 activation of nonbank supervision and its policy of publishing supervisory designations when firms push back (e.g., Google Pay, World Acceptance Corp.).
FDIC letters give credence to ‘Choke Point 2.0’ claims: Coinbase CLO | Banking Dive
2024.12.11 72% relevant
The FOIA letters show the FDIC asked multiple banks in 2022 to 'pause all crypto asset-related activity' and copied the Fed, indicating reliance on supervisory pressure (and implied exams/audits) rather than formal rules—an instance of governance via supervision that can coerce without due process.
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