FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nov. 13, 2017

CONTACT:
Carter Dougherty
carter@ourfinancialsecurity.org
(202) 251-6700

Senate Proposal Would Reward Banks Not Look Out for Consumers

Statement from Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform, on the Senate banking deregulation proposal:

On the overall proposal:

“With scandals at Wells Fargo and Equifax so recent or even ongoing, Congress ought to be passing robust new consumer protections, not doing favors for banks. And yet we now have a proposal that includes over a dozen measures that would ease rules on banks, and a few minor changes for consumers that ought to be a given.”

On the changes to Fed supervision:

“The reforms Congress passed after the financial crisis are designed for a moment like today, since they require even reluctant regulators to maintain adequate oversight of multi-hundred billion dollar banks. This proposal strips away that mandate and opens the door for Trump-appointed regulators to severely weaken the rules applying to large regional banks.”

On the bank lobby’s pressure:

Annual industry earnings by banks set a new record in 2016, and community banks saw even faster growth than big banks. Over 95 percent of community banks turned a profit last year.

“The pressure from Wall Street to change Dodd-Frank has been a constant since the ink was dry on the legislation. But with bank profits at record highs, we should be focused on what the public needs, not what bank lobbyists want.”

###