Hi,


Asking for a friend, lol


This is in California but I’m sure other states may have similar agencies… Has anyone ever been contacted by the DFPI (Department of Financial Protection and Innovation) for what I believe is called a regulatory examination? I think they’re formerly known under a different name but they’re the agaency that provides oversight and where consumers can make complaints.


I’m sincerely asking for a friend because I’m good at research. He received a call last Friday, to set up an online hour interview where they’ll be telling him what documents he needs to get together. They also mentioned they want to get more info on how the branch runs, what it does, etc. But again, they did say he’s going to need to get certain documents together and they’d let him know which ones during that hour. Sounds like there will be a second meeting since they didn’t give him the list prior.


From everything I’ve read, they usually set up in person meetings where they come to your business for 2-5 days and look through all of your books. I’m not sure that they’re doing this with him or if it’s just an online thing. I also read that since Covid they were doing a lot of online interview/exams, instead of in person.


He can’t think of anyone that has been unhappy where they’d make a complaint and the only thing he can think of is that he just brought on a new partner who was with a big bank for many years. That partner brought a lot of his clients over to my friends firm, and the bank branch was really mad about that. I’m not sure if it’s even related but the timing is odd since my friend has never been contacted by any agency to do any type of regulatory exam.


It may be nothing and just might be that the DFPI got funding or has to use a certain amount of funding to investigate or make sure certain financial agencies are in compliance, but I just wanted to see if anyone was familar with this or has ever gone through this process.


Any help appreciated… just glad it’s not me, hahaha