team, Author at Americans for Financial Reform

Fact Sheet: Bank Supervision and Climate Risk

In this document, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund describes how climate risk should be incorporated into the bank supervision and examination process. Climate-related risks comprise both physical and transition risks that can be mapped onto the traditional categories of financial risk: credit, market, liquidity, operational, reputational, legal, and political risk. Safety and soundness concerns are discussed, including 1) correlated losses that are widely expected due to climate change and the decarbonization transition, 2) the high degrees of leverage in climate vulnerable sectors, 3) asset-liability mismatch, 4) securitization, and 5) the use/misuse of insurance and hedging tools by financial institutions.

News Release: Companies Backed by Giant Private Equity Firms Received $5.3bn in COVID-19 Stimulus Funds

Hundreds of companies owned or backed by some of the most well financed private equity firms in the US secured an estimated $5.3 billion in public funds under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), reveals a new investigation published today.

Report: Public Money For Private Equity: Pandemic Relief Went To Companies Backed By Private Equity Titans

This study estimates that at least $5.3 billion in CARES Act money went to 611 portfolio companies owned or backed by private equity firms that held $908 billion in cash reserves.

News Release: Committee Tax Plan Falls Short of Need to Advance Racial and Economic Justice

Today, the House Ways and Means committee released its draft plan for the Build Back Better economic package. It includes many crucial spending items, and some positive tax provisions. But, overall, it fails to meet the moment. Among other things, the package leaves out revenue-raising proposals from the Biden administration that would advance racial and economic justice. We need more dramatic change to the status quo, which benefits Wall Street and the super-rich and harms the rest of us.

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Letters to Regulators: Letter to ED on Preemption Interpretation

AFREF joined a letter to the Education Department (ED) in response to their interpretation on federal and joint federal-state regulation and oversight of ED’s federal student loan programs and federal student loan servicers.

Letters to Congress: Support Progressive Revenue Raisers to Rein in CEO Pay and Pay for Vital Public Investments

AFR joined a letter to Congress urging support for tax proposals to rein in CEO Pay while investing in our recovery.

Letters to Regulators: Letter to NIST on Proposal for Identifying and Managing Bias within Artificial Intelligence

AFREF joined a letter to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in response to their request for comment on their Proposal for Identifying and Managing Bias within Artificial Intelligence.

Letters and Statements: 32 Orgs urge President Biden to address Fed’s failure on climate risk

Dear President Biden,

We are deeply concerned by the lack of progress being made by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (the Fed) on the assessment and mitigation of climate risk in the financial system. The Fed has failed to take proactive measures to address the risks that banks and the financial system face from climate change. This must change.

Letters to Regulators: Letter to FRB in Support of FedNow and Urging Consumer Protections

AFREF and 6 organizations sent a letter to the Federal Reserve Board expressing support for the development of the FedNow Service, the FRB’s real time payments system, and urging the Fed to build sufficient consumer protections into the system so that consumers and small businesses can safely use the system.

Letters to Regulators: Letter to FRB Urging Consumer Protections in FedNow

AFREF joined our colleagues in sending a letter to the Federal Reserve urging the inclusion of essential consumer protections in the rules and design of the FedNow service, the Federal Reserve’s real time payment system.