When the CFPB announced last June that they were beginning rebranding efforts to change the name of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection - or BCFP - I had my doubts.
Over the last few months, I found myself feeling like some sort of geeky compliance-like rebel every time I published a compliance article or video and referred to the agency as the CFPB instead of what they stated was their new name - the BCFP. I’m not exactly sure why I did it, but I refused to use the new name (BCFP) and was determined not to give in.
I think I wasn’t convinced that they were actually going to change their name.
Sure, the initial announcement seemed sincere at the time, but every week that crept further away from the announced plan to change without an actual logo change on the website of their home page left me with serious doubts. Instinctively, I understood that, while it is easy to rearrange the order of letters hanging on a wall of a lobby, it is a massive undertaking to conduct rebranding of a website - let alone an entire government agency.
In fact, recent reports have claimed that the name rebranding from the CFPB to the BCFP would have cost the agency between $9 and $19 million, and would cost the financial industry around $300 million. Furthermore, the name change would most likely cause confusion and make it more difficult for consumers to find the Bureau’s website - which seems quite counter-productive for a consumer protection agency.
So, when word got out this week that new CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger sent an internal memo to staff explaining that the Bureau will continue to use the name, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), instead of its lesser known legal name (Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection), i really wasn’t surprised.
You see, I took the bet that the BCFP name wouldn’t stick, and therefore, we actually didn’t publish a single article in our updates using that name. (Not a single one - we even went back and checked.)
So, call it intuition or just a knack for compliance, but either way I’m happy to say I was right. Which, of course, means absolutely nothing.
Long live the CFPB.
Adam Witmer - Founder/CEO