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NewsBriefs

ported a 94 percent increase in total payment value in 2024, The move signaled a drastic shift in financial regulation,
reaching $246 billion, alongside a 38% jump in transaction as newly appointed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent or-
volume to 343 million. In response to surging demand, dered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
RTP will raise its transaction limit from $1 million to $10 to cease all rulemaking, communications and litigation.
million on Feb. 9, enabling businesses to conduct larger, The CFPB, established under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act,
faster settlements. The network now reaches 70 percent was created to protect consumers from abusive financial
of U.S. demand deposit accounts, with over 850 financial practices. Under Chopra, the bureau took aggressive en-
institutions (FIs) participating. Businesses are leveraging forcement actions against companies like Citigroup, Wells
real-time payments for payroll, supplier payments, and Fargo and Block (owner of Cash App), securing billions in
merchant settlements, improving cash flow and working fines and consumer refunds.
capital management. More than 285,000 businesses now
use RTP for business-to-business (B2B) transactions, un- Republicans have long sought to limit the CFPB's power,
derscoring the network's scalability and reliability. and during Trump's first term, the bureau was largely in-
active. Critics of reining in the bureau, argued that elimi-
Consumer adoption is also rising, with instant refunds, nating consumer protections could lead to unchecked fi-
P2P transfers, and wage access becoming standard ex- nancial misconduct, while supporters claimed the CFPB's
pectations. A Finzly and Faster Payments Council survey overreach stifled economic growth.Senator Elizabeth War-
found that 90% of FIs recognize strong consumer demand ren, a CFPB architect, criticized Chopra's firing, warning
for instant payments.As real-time payments continue ex- that deregulating financial markets could trigger a finan-
panding, RTP's role in modern finance is becoming in- cial crisis. Meanwhile, concerns are mounting over Bes-
creasingly vital, setting the stage for a cashless, instant- sent's connections to Elon Musk's Department of Govern-
settlement future. ment Efficiency (DOGE), which is reported to have gained
access to Treasury payment systems containing sensitive
CFPB put on mothball status financial data.With the CFPB effectively dormant, finan-

On Feb. 3, 2025, President Trump fired CFPB Director Ro- cial oversight is at a crossroads. The move marks one of
hit Chopra, effectively halting all agency operations. the most significant rollbacks in consumer financial pro-
tection in over a decade.

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