The President: Good job, everybody.
Everybody, please have a seat.
Well, it is good to be back at CFPB.
Audience Member: Woo!
The President: Yes, this is an enthusiastic
and rowdy crowd, this group.
(laughter)
That's what happens when you do good things --
you feel good.
And this group is doing great work.
I want to thank your director, Rich Cordray,
for hosting me here today, and I want to thank
all of you for doing a great job in looking out
for the financial security of all Americans.
Now, obviously, right now the news is dominated
by Ebola, and we've got an all-hands-on-deck approach
across government to make sure that we are keeping
the American people safe.
But even as we meet that particular challenge,
it's also important that we don't lose sight
of the other challenges that we face as a nation,
especially the challenge of making sure that
our economy works for every single American.
And that includes the challenge that brings
me here today: protecting Americans from
financial fraud and identity theft.
As President, I believe that America is stronger when our
middle class can count on things like affordable
health insurance, and Medicare and Social Security,
where there are rules to protect our kids from
dirty air or dirty water; rules to protect consumers
from being taken advantage of.
And I know you agree, those of you at CFPB,
because that's your mission.
And that's why part of the financial reform that we passed
in the wake of the worse financial crisis since
the Great Depression was the creation of this agency,
to make sure that we are looking at every aspect of the financial
system and ensuring that the American people have
the basic protections that they should be able to count on.
You have one mission: You're a watchdog for consumers
to make sure that the American people have somebody
who's got their backs.
And because of the good work of many of the people who are
here today, Americans have saved millions because they've
been protected from predatory mortgage practices.
You've protected folks from deceptive credit card practices.
You've set up "Know Before You Owe" to help college be a little
more affordable for young people and to make sure
that they know the kind of debt that they're accruing.
You've simplified mortgage forms so homeowners
don't get tricked in the final print.
But all this work, taken together,
the reason it's important is because it's not an abstraction;
it saves people money and time and heartache.
And before you, Americans who had gotten taken advantage
of often had no way of achieving some
sort of compensation.
Today, you've actually secured billions of dollars
in relief for victims.
You've helped to make people a little more whole
after somebody engaged in fraudulent behavior.
Some folks in Congress fought tooth and nail
to keep this agency from getting off the ground.
There are some, frankly, who are still fighting to undo
the rules we put in place to protect consumers.
But I refuse to back down and go back to the days when mortgage
lenders or financial firms could take advantage
of consumers, and consumers had no recourse.
We're moving forward.
America is better because of this agency and because
of the rules that we've put in place.
And the good news is, is that we've got more work to do.
And today, we're building on the progress that's
already been made by announcing new measures to protect
America from identity theft and fraud.
Now, we've all experienced the benefits of new technologies
that let us buy and sell things faster and more
efficiently than ever before.
But there are risks that come with these technologies as well.
Last year, millions of Americans became victims
of identity theft.
Millions were victims of this kind of fraud.
More than 100 million Americans had information that was
compromised in data breaches in some of our largest companies.
And identity theft is now America's fastest-growing crime.
These crimes don't just cost companies and consumers billions
of dollars every year, they also threaten the economic security
of middle-class Americans who have worked really hard
for a lifetime to build some sort of security.
The idea that somebody halfway around the world could run up
thousands of dollars in charges in your name just because
they stole your number, or because you swiped your card
at the wrong place in the wrong time, that's infuriating.
For victims, it's heartbreaking.
And as a country, we've got to do more to stop it.
And that's why today we are launching an initiative
called "Buy Secure" -- because you should be able to buy
the things that you need without risking your
identity, your credit score, or your savings.
First, starting next year, we're going to begin making sure that
credit cards and credit-card readers issued by the United
States government come equipped with two new layers of
protection: a microchip in the card that's harder for thieves
to clone than a magnetic strip, and a pin number
you enter into the reader just as you do with an ATM.
We know this technology works.
When Britain switched to a chip-and-pin system,
they cut fraud in stores by 70 percent.
Seventy percent.
Of course, no one security measure, no matter how powerful,
can stop fraud on its own.
So today, I'm also directing federal law enforcement
to share more information with the private sector
when they discover identity theft rings.
Folks here at the CFPB are working with banks to help
make it easier for consumers to discover if fraudulent
charges have been made to their account.
The Federal Trade Commission will add new features to
IdentityTheft.gov, and they're going to work with credit
bureaus to dramatically cut down on the time it takes
for victims to recover their stolen identities.
And in the coming months I'll be bringing together industry
leaders and consumer advocates for a cybersecurity summit
focused on protecting consumers using the next generation
of mobile payment systems and devices.
And I'm happy to say that the private sector is already deeply
engaged in this effort.
Today, a group of retailers that include some of our largest --
Home Depot, Target, Walgreens, Walmart -- and representing
more than 15,000 stores across the country,
all of them are pledging to adopt chip-and-pin
technology by the beginning of next year.
American Express is pledging $10 million to replace
outdated card readers at small businesses.
MasterCard is pledging to provide its customers with
free identity-theft monitoring and resolution support.
And Citi is joining other financial institutions
in making free FICO scores available to customers,
because a sudden drop in your credit rating is one
of the clearest signs that you've been hit by fraud.
So I want to thank all the business leaders who are
choosing to protect their companies and their customers
from the kind of hacking that we saw too many times
this past year.
I want to encourage every retailer, every bank,
and every credit card company to join them in this effort.
And even though I'm taking action today without Congress,
Congress needs to do its part, as well.
Today, data breaches are handled by dozens of separate state
laws, and it's time to have one clear national standard that
brings certainty to businesses and keeps consumers safe.
Let me just close by saying this.
Last week, I saw a survey that asked folks from all over
the world what they thought of the idea that "success in life
is pretty much determined by forces outside of our control."
Of all the advanced economies on Earth, Americans,
as you might expect, were the least likely to agree with that.
We think our fate is in our own hands.
We think that if we work hard, that we can get ahead.
For all the challenges of the 21st century, for all the tough,
grueling work that's been required to rebuild this economy
and people rebuilding their individual lives after
a terrible recession, we still believe that
our destiny is written by us -- not for us.
We believe that this is a country where hard work should
pay off and responsibility should be rewarded.
That's the principle all of you here
at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
deeply believe in.
That's what you're fighting for every single day.
That's what I'm going to keep fighting for as long as I have
the opportunity to be President.
And the executive order I'm signing and the great work that
the companies are doing who are participating here today
is going to just be one more brick in that bridge that
we provide to hopefully all Americans so that
they can translate their dreams into reality.
So good job, everybody.
Let me sign this.
(applause)
The President: Rich, I should mention, by the way,
that I went to a restaurant up in New York
when I was there during the General Assembly,
and my credit card was rejected.
(laughter)
It turned out I guess I don't use it enough.
So they thought there was some fraud going on.
(laughter)
Fortunately, Michelle had hers.
And I was trying to explain to the waitress, no,
I really think that I've been paying my bills.
(laughter)
Even I'm affected by this.
Thank you very much, everybody.
(applause)