Consumer protection

One of the critical ways to promote economic security is by making financial services work better for more American families. Building a financial system that promotes consumer autonomy will require innovation, particularly in our payment systems and political/legal infrastructure. Such advances could help empower consumers and harness technological innovation if they are grounded with strong consumer protections—especially in an era where people increasingly turn to technology to manage their financial lives. 

Conference

Dodd-Frank achievements assessed on its 10th anniversary

With banks and other institutions holding key financial levers to help businesses navigate the pandemic, former Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd and former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank credited their law — passed in response to the 2008 financial crisis — with positioning the banking system as a stabilizing force.
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Conference

2019 Consumer Protection Conference

The University of Michigan’s Center on Finance, Law, & Policy convened regulators, researchers, data security and privacy experts, journalists, and financial technology companies for a two-day conference to consider new legal and regulatory questions raised by recent technological developments and the challenges facing consumers in a shifting policy environment.
Click here to watch videos from the conference
Symposium

2017 Behavioral Finance Symposium

Economics met law, finance, public policy, and psychology in this two-day symposium, co-hosted with ideas42. Through keynotes, interdisciplinary panel discussions, and interactive audience experiments, participants learned how government units and the private sector are designing new financial products, re-writing investment rules, and using technology to better protect consumers and spur innovation — and what those changes mean for small businesses and our overall economy.
Click here to watch the symposium
PolicyTalk

Richard Cordray Policy Talk

An online conversation between Richard Cordray and Dean Michael S. Barr on Cordray's distinguished career and his new book, Watchdog: How Protecting Consumers Can Save Our Families, Our Economy, and Our Democracy.
Click here to watch the conversation
Working paper

Consumer Autonomy and Pathways to Portability in Banking and Financial Services

Who owns a customer's financial data? How can improvements to payment systems improve the lives of all American families? Ford School of Public Policy Dean Michael S. Barr and co-authors Abigail DeHart (Michigan Law '18) and Andrew Kang (Michigan Law '17) take up these issues and several more in their working paper, Consumer Autonomy and Pathways to Portability in Banking and Financial Services.
Read the paper
New York University Journal of Law and Business

Mandatory Arbitration in Consumer Finance and Investor Contracts

Mandatory pre-dispute arbitration clauses are pervasive in consumer financial and investor contracts — for credit cards, bank accounts, auto loans, broker-dealer services, and many others. These clauses often ill serve households.
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Event summary

Behavioral Finance Symposium Summary

Behavioral finance is the study of how behavioral biases and tendencies affect financial decisions, and in turn how those impact financial markets. Read the summary of a two-day symposium hosted by CFLP and Ideas42.
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