CFPB Claims Supervision Over Google Unit, Which Promptly Sues

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it’s claiming supervisory authority over Google Payment Corp., as the agency extends its oversight of nonbank financial platforms. The unit of Alphabet Inc. promptly filed a lawsuit to fight the move.

The CFPB’s finding, announced in a statement Friday, is a step toward conducting exams, though it doesn’t necessarily mean the agency will do so. Nor does it mean that the company engaged in wrongdoing.

“While Google Payment Corp. is already subject to CFPB’s enforcement jurisdiction, the CFPB has determined that Google Payment Corp. has met the legal requirements for supervision,” the CFPB said.

Google already discontinued the US version of its Google Pay app, but some users may still have balances in existing accounts, the CFPB noted.

The company, which contested the regulator’s right to supervise those operations, sued the agency and Director Rohit Chopra at federal court in Washington on Friday, saying the decision “suffers from numerous legal defects” and that current or future risks to consumers “are not present, or even possible, here.”

“This is a clear case of government overreach involving Google Pay peer-to-peer payments, which never raised risks and is no longer provided in the US,” said José Castañeda, a company spokesperson. “We are challenging it in court.”

In 2022, a CFPB study found the agency was failing to use its authority to examine nonbank financial firms that pose potential risks to consumers. Supervisory exams are a confidential process that help companies identify potential violations, and most entities receiving notices of supervision decide to consent, the regulator said.

--With assistance from Julia Love.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Megan Howard in Washington at mhoward70@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net

David Scheer

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