Former CFPB Senior Counsel Larry Lee Joins Better Markets As Director of Consumer Financial Protection

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Dennis Kelleher, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Better Markets, announced today that Larry Lee will serve as Director of Consumer Financial Protection Policy at Better Markets. He was most recently Senior Counsel at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Before the CFPB, Larry was in private practice, representing financial institutions and multinationals in white-collar and commercial matters. 

Statement from Dennis M. Kelleher, Co-founder, President, and CEO of Better Markets: 

“America’s financial consumers—everyone with a credit or debit card, a savings or checking account, or a personal, student, auto, home, or any other type of loan—deserve protection against rip-offs and financial predators. Unfortunately, that’s not happening now because the administration has dismantled the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), stopped enforcing the laws that protect Main Street Americans, and too often actually side with the crooks and scammers. That’s why Better Markets created this new position and hired Larry, an expert with decades of experience identifying illegal financial conduct and standing up for financial consumers. His agenda will prioritize protecting America’s consumers from abusive, illegal, and wealth-extracting financial practices, and fight for them to get the recovery they deserve.” 

Statement from Larry Lee, Director of Consumer Financial Protection Policy: 

“The Administration’s assault on consumers demands a response from skilled and passionate defenders of the public interest. I’m excited to fight for policies that help Americans keep their hard-earned money and against policies that leave them worse off. I plan to build on Better Markets’ remarkable 15-year track record of advocating for fair and safe financial products and look forward to engaging with policymakers to advance the interests of seniors, students, servicemembers and millions of American consumers.” 

Read more about Larry: 

Larry Lee is the Director of Consumer Financial Protection Policy at Better Markets. Larry has more than 20 years of experience in both the public and private financial sectors, primarily focused on consumer financial protection.  

Larry was most recently Senior Counsel at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In the CFPB’s Office of Card Markets, he was a primary author of the groundbreaking 2015 study on arbitration agreements in consumer financial contracts. In the CFPB’s Office of Regulations, Larry led and worked on teams drafting rules that set national policy, including regulations addressing arbitration, payday lending, small business lending application data collection (section 1071), and non-sufficient funds fees. He also advised CFPB enforcement attorneys and examiners on abusiveness, auto repossessions, loan and lease disclosures, auto title lending, and other issues. Larry worked closely with other federal agencies on consumer leasing and the Community Reinvestment Act and provided technical assistance to Congress. 

Before the CFPB, Larry was in private practice, representing financial institutions and multinationals in white-collar and commercial matters. He was the inaugural recipient of the New York City Bar’s Cyrus Vance Access to Justice Award. Larry was a law clerk on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the D.C. District Court. Before law school, Larry was an investment banker at Lehman Brothers.   

Larry holds a law degree from New York University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in Social Studies from Harvard College.  

Larry’s bio is available online here. 

### 

Better Markets is a non-profit, non-partisan, and independent organization founded in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to promote the public interest in the financial markets, support the financial reform of Wall Street and make our financial system work for all Americans again. Better Markets works with allies—including many in finance—to promote pro-market, pro-business and pro-growth policies that help build a stronger, safer financial system that protects and promotes Americans’ jobs, savings, retirements and more. To learn more, visit www.bettermarkets.org.