Former CFPB Director, Rohit Chopra, Is Coming to CA — What That Means for Mortgage Compliance

A new state regulatory agency with former top-dog federal regulator, Rohit Chopra, at the helm. For financial institutions and compliance teams operating in California, this is not a puff piece. It is a regulatory posture story — and the posture is shifting.

If you worked in regulatory compliance between 2021 and 2025, you know the name Rohit Chopra. He ran the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) during what was arguably one of the most aggressive enforcement eras in the agency’s history: $10 billion in consumer refunds and penalties recovered, “junk fee” crackdowns, and a fundamental reorientation of the CFPB toward institution accountability. On May 12, 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Chopra to lead California’s newly formed Business and Consumer Services Agency (BCSA), a sweeping reorganization that consolidates licensing, enforcement, and consumer protection functions across the state under a single roof. The agency officially launches July 1, 2026.

Rohit Chopra’s Track Record

Chopra’s tenure at the CFPB produced a specific and well-documented set of priorities. Often, these priorities came in the form of industry guidance bulletins from the CFPB’s newsroom. Compliance teams should be familiar with them, and they are likely to inform how the DFPI and the broader BCSA approach policy & enforcement under his leadership.

• Junk fees and fee transparency: Chopra made fee disclosure a signature issue at the CFPB, pursuing institutions for RESPA-adjacent fee bundling, surprise charges, and opaque pricing structures. The DFPI already has authority over these areas under California’s Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL). We expect that authority to be used more aggressively.
• Repeat offender accountability: At the CFPB, Chopra pushed consistently for consequences that followed individuals, not just institutions. He sought to strengthen mechanisms for holding executives and compliance officers personally liable when systemic violations were found.
• Fair lending and digital redlining: Chopra’s CFPB pursued fair lending cases, including in digital advertising contexts the targeting and suppression of audiences in social media and search advertising that results in differential access to credit.
• Open banking and data rights: Chopra pushed the CFPB’s rulemaking on consumer financial data access. California has its own privacy and data rights framework under the CCPA. We expect coordination between BCSA’s data protection posture and financial services supervision.

The New BCSA

The BCSA is not a rebranding exercise, but a structural consolidation of several agencies with direct jurisdiction over financial services, real estate, and consumer products. Relevant entities brought under the BCSA umbrella include the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) — the state’s primary financial services regulator — and the Department of Real Estate (DRE). Also included are the Department of Consumer Affairs, the Department of Cannabis Control, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, and others.

What Compliance Teams Should Do Today

The BCSA launches July 1, 2026. Now is the right moment to assess California compliance posture against the enforcement priorities Chopra has previously demonstrated throughout his career.

• Policy: Review California-specific compliance policies for fee disclosure, fair lending, and advertising governance. If those policies were last updated against a federal examination framework, they may not adequately address CCFPL obligations or DFPI examination standards.
• Documentation: Chopra’s enforcement philosophy has consistently emphasized that compliance programs need to be documented well enough to demonstrate institutional intent. An undocumented compliance review is not a compliance review. Build the paper trail.
• Training: field officers in California need to understand not just federal Reg B and RESPA obligations, but their parallel CCFPL and DRE responsibilities. If training programs are federally oriented, close the gap.

Conclusion

The dual-regulator environment in California has always required attention. With the BCSA launch and Chopra at its helm, it requires more active compliance management than ever. Compliance teams have time to re-assess their compliance risk for CA; just don’t wait too long to apply the Chopra lens to your institution’s practices.

Don't wait for an exam to find the gaps.

ActiveComply helps financial institutions stay ahead of regulatory change. If the BCSA's launch has you rethinking your compliance posture, we're ready to help.

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