CFPB Ends Oversight of Google Payment Amid Regulatory Shift

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it has ended its oversight of Google Payment, which also led to Google’s voluntary dismissal of a lawsuit against the regulatory agency.

According to the parties’ joint status report, the CFPB renounced an order that initially directed the agency to oversee Google’s payment division. The status report additionally included that Google Payment agreed to drop its lawsuit against the CFPB that originally challenged the order.

The initial order was issued by the CFPB under the former CFPB Director, Rohit Chopra. It represented the agency’s broader effort in exerting pressure on larger tech companies by supervising their consumer financial activities. Such efforts were a priority of the Biden Administration, especially in regulating non-bank financial institutions such as digital wallets and payment application such as Venmo and Zelle.

However, the Trump administration has taken a different stance on such regulation efforts. Since President Trump took office in January, the CFPB has dropped numerous cases against payment application companies and other financial companies. In February, the agency dropped a lawsuit against Rocket Homes that alleged the company of offering kickbacks to brokers who referred customers to Rocket Mortgage. In March, the agency dropped a lawsuit against Zelle, Wells Fargo, and other major banks that alleged the companies of failing to protect consumers from widespread fraud.

Under the leadership of the now acting Director of the CFPB, Russell Vought, the CFPB retracted the Google Payment order on the basis that “extending Bureau supervision to GPC would be an unwarranted use of the Bureau’s powers and resources,” according to the Withdrawal Notice.

The agency continues to display its opposition to payment application regulations and enforcement actions in line with the Trump administration’s agenda. This latest dismissal could lead to additional challenges against regulations aimed at oversight of tech companies.