Today, in response to the announcement that Equifax CEO Richard Smith has retired, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, made the following statement:

“The retirement of Equifax’s CEO, just days before he is scheduled to testify at congressional hearings about the breach that occurred under his watch, does not relieve the company of its duty to provide answers to, and adequate redress for, the many millions of Americans who had their sensitive financial and personally identifiable information exposed due to the company’s failures to safeguard consumers’ data.

“The public deserves answers about what occurred at Equifax, and its entire board of directors and senior management team should be accountable for the enormous harm caused to consumers across the country. There will be consequences. This process is only beginning.

“An important part of this process is for Congress to enact long overdue comprehensive reforms of our nation’s broken credit reporting system. I have introduced legislation to completely overhaul the credit reporting system, taking the burden off of consumers while holding credit reporting agencies accountable, and restoring fairness to the system. We must take action to fix this deeply flawed industry.”

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