After a meteoric rise during the pandemic, the buy now, pay later (BNPL) business is facing a future clouded by deteriorating economic conditions, competition from the likes of Apple and bank credit card issuers and a looming regulatory crackdown. At least, that’s the conventional wisdom. Since the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) opened an inquiry into the industry last year, regulation has generally been framed as a “backlash” and threat to the industry’s growth. “I’ll be surprised if [the CFPB] comes out with a very specific BNPL regulation,” says Kim Holzel, a veteran of the CFPB who is now a Financial Industry and Fintech partner at Goodwin. “Some of the companies that look like they have smart rules take shortcuts to get ahead of their competitors. That may be their undoing,” says Tony Alexis, former Head of Regulation at the CFPB and current head of Goodwin’s Consumer Financial Services Enforcement practice. Read the Forbes article here.