Crafting Effective Public Comments: How And Why You Should Participate In The Rulemaking Process

When regulators propose a new rule, financial institutions can often find themselves pushed into a reactionary position, left to deal with consequences that rule makers may not have foreseen. Once a rule hits the books, legal advisors dig into what the rule really means, compliance teams scramble to interpret the language and update policies, and operations teams work out how to implement necessary changes by what always feels like a tight deadline. But there is an earlier opportunity to understand how a rule may affect your business and even help change it for the better that you might miss: the public comment period.

For money services businesses, Fintechs, lenders, and other financial services providers, public comments are not just a formality of the bureaucratic process. They are a critical chance to help shape the rules by which they are governed before the rule is finalized. And thoughtful, well-crafted comments can have a real impact on the rules financial