A Capitalist Speaks Up to Support Consumer Protection

Former CFPB staffer endorses consumer protection, and we couldn't agree more.

Arjan Schutte, a venture capitalist and head of Core Innovation Capital, was recently asked to resign from his advisory role with the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – as were all the other members. This prompted Schutte to make the following statement about his belief in the importance of consumer protection regulation:

As a profit seeking capitalist who invests in high-growth fintech startups (like Ripple, Mosaic, Oportun and more than 30 others), I believe in guard rails, in rules, in regulation. And I believe the prudential regulators’ primary responsibility of safety and soundness of our financial system does not adequately protect consumers. And I believe financial products are sufficiently complex and materially impactful on people’s lives and livelihoods that having a consumer watchdog is entirely warranted — even if it is a pain the ass, a cost to the system, and a drag on innovation. The stakes are just too damn high, for each household and for our country. [Emphasis ours.]

I just wanted to say: Yeah, I totally agree—especially with the highlighted sentence, and not just for the U.S., but for the consumers of financial services everywhere.

You can read Schutte’s full statement on Medium where it was originally posted, here.

 

 

 

 

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