U.S. and European officials have begun an “informal dialogue” on consumer financial protection issues, focusing on the rise of Big Tech in payments; the use of AI in lending; and the emergence of “buy now, pay later.”
Senior officials from the European Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have held meetings on the three controversial “priority areas” to share expertise and best practices and coordinate approaches.
The popularity of BNPL has increased on both sides of the Atlantic in recent years, raising concerns about over-indebtedness, which the European Commission estimates will increase significantly over the next decade.
Meanwhile, regulators in the US and Europe are working to counter Big Tech’s increasing penetration into finance, particularly payments. Both the European Commission and the CFPB have raised antitrust concerns about Apple’s digital wallet.
On the topic of AI, officials discussed “the differences and similarities in the respective legal and regulatory frameworks related to consumer finance and shared information about the types of AI and use cases for automated decision-making that companies are deploying in each jurisdiction.”
In a statement, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra and European Commissioner Didier Reynders said: “It is critical for the US and EU to align on companies, products, consumer trends and risks across the Atlantic. Our employees shared expertise, best practices and lessons learned on an important topic.”
They continue: “Together, we can help ensure that consumers across the Atlantic have their financial data and privacy respected, not monitored and abused, retain meaningful choices in competitive consumer finance markets, avoid fraud and manipulation, and have the necessary ones have tools to seek legal redress” if something goes wrong.