The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued its second supervision order in a contested designation proceeding on 6 December 2024, this time targeting Google Payment Corp., the payments arm of Google, over its now-discontinued peer-to-peer payment product.
The supervision order subjects the technology company's payment platform to CFPB examination even though the firm holds no bank charter. Under the Bureau's contested supervision process, a company may formally challenge its designation as a supervised entity before an internal administrative hearing body before any order becomes final. The CFPB said the order does not constitute a finding that the company engaged in wrongdoing.
COMPANY FILES FEDERAL COURT CHALLENGE
The technology company responded to the supervision order by filing a lawsuit against the CFPB in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. In the legal filing, the firm argued that the Bureau's decision to impose supervisory obligations exceeded its statutory authority, contending that the designation rested on a small number of unsubstantiated complaints about a product it no longer offered rather than evidence of widespread or systemic consumer harm.
The CFPB's order said the law allows supervision even where a company has discontinued the product in question.
PRODUCT DISCONTINUED
The peer-to-peer payment product at the centre of the supervision order is no longer available to consumers in the United States.
Under the Bureau's applicable rules, a supervised entity may petition for termination of a supervision order after a period of two years, provided it can demonstrate that the circumstances giving rise to the original designation no longer apply.
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