In The News: Opinion: Easy money requires tougher financial regulation (MarketWatch)
Looser monetary policy is a dangerous combination paired with the aggressive weakening of financial regulation by Jerome Powell’s Fed
All posts by AFR
Letter to Regulators: SEC Should Withdraw Proposed “Finders” Exemption to Broker-Dealer Regulation
By creating a blanket exemption for a broadly defined group of “finders” to effectively act as solicitors and brokers in private investment markets without being subject to any of the requirements on registered broker-dealers as regards disclosure, qualifications, obligations to customers, pricing, record-keeping, business conduct, financial resources, or compliance with FINRA rules, the Commission would abrogate its responsibilities to protect investors and to maintain fair and orderly markets.
In The News: In a Divided Washington, Biden Could Still Exert Economic Power (The New York Times)
“The C.F.P.B. should make sure companies are complying with all emergency protections on the books, and maximizing assistance to consumers to prevent garnishments, foreclosures and repossessions,” said Linda Jun, senior policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform.
Joint Letter: Letter to CFPB Opposing Reorganization of its Division on Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending
Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund joined our partners in sending a letter signed by 83 groups opposing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed reorganization of its Division of Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending because it would drastically weaken the office’s authority independence, and effectiveness, and leave consumers vulnerable to harm.
Report: Pandemic-Related Assistance a Backdoor Bailout of Biggest Banks
While it’s true that the largest banks currently look solvent in the face of economic stress, this is in significant part because they have benefited greatly from regulatory forbearance and from Federal Reserve intervention in financial markets. This report, based on analysis of regulations and bank financial reports by Americans for Financial Education Fund and Risky Finance, lays out some of the clearest ways in which the nation’s six largest banks have benefited from regulatory forbearance and the Federal Reserve’s financial market interventions.
Policy Memo: SPAC-tacular for Wall Street, For the Rest of Us, Less So
The folk legend Robin Hood was, as every child knows, the legendary outlaw who robbed from the rich to give to the poor. But in a reincarnation of a long-running Wall Street scheme, it is the wily financiers who rob from the ordinary folk holding investment accounts at Robinhood.
In The News: Rashida Tlaib and AOC have a proposal for a fairer, greener financial system — public banking (Vox)
“It’s basically a way to finance state and local investment that doesn’t go through Wall Street and doesn’t leave the community and turn into a windfall for shareholders,” said Porter McConnell, the campaign director of advocacy group Take On Wall Street. “This is more about community development.”
News Release: New OCC Rule Protecting Predatory Lenders Could Face Legal Challenge
The regulator of the nation’s largest banks has finalized a rule that allows predatory lenders to do an end-run around state interest rate caps, exposing people to loans in excess of 100% APR that violate state rate limits. Merely by putting a bank’s name on the fine print of the paperwork, predatory lenders could claim that the loan is a bank loan exempt from state rate caps.
Event: Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank Panel
On Oct. 19, AFR Executive Director Lisa Donner participated in a virtual conference organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Entitled “Empowering the public to assess large bank resiliency, the conference brought together leading experts to bank transparency to discuss how to maintain and improve transparency of the conditions of major banks.
Letters to Regulators: Letter to the U.S. Department of Justice Regarding the Bank Merger Competitive Review Guidelines.
Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund submitted a comment letter asking the Department of Justice to protect the public interest from ever larger banks exercising market power to impose higher costs on consumers, reduce the volume or quality of banking services, and from becoming so large that they pose a risk to the entire financial system and real economy.