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In The News: Wall Street Venture-Fund Curbs to Be Eased in Volcker Revamp (Bloomberg)

In revising the Volcker Rule’s proprietary trading ban last year, the regulators had already relaxed one component of the limits on investment in funds, clarifying the industry’s ability to do so on behalf of clients. Backing off some of the fund restrictions will “complete the process of neutering the rule,” Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform, said in a criticism of the regulators’ actions last year.

Joint Statement: CFPB Narrowing of Abusive Standards Will Protect Dishonest Businesses Instead of Cheated Consumers

While the statement purports to clarify the standard for abusiveness under the law, in fact it inserts a great deal of vagueness, and signals that the CFPB is prepared to give companies a pass when they commit abusive acts. And the Bureau plans to let companies that have used abusive practices off the hook for civil penalties and disgorgement if they acted in good faith—a standard that will be in the eye of the beholder, that will encourage ignorance of the law, and that will require the CFPB to prove a negative.

Joint Brief: AFR Joins Argument Urging Supreme Court to Support CFPB Structure

The amici submitting this brief are consumer organizations with an interest in the constitutional analysis that determines whether the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is consistent with separation-of-powers principles … The amici submitting this brief are consumer organizations with an interest in the constitutional analysis that determines whether the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is consistent with separation-of-powers principles …

Joint Letter: OCC Proposal Could Greenlight Predatory Lending Schemes

A coalition of more than 100 organizations yesterday submitted a public comment in opposition to a proposed rule from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) that would make it easier for payday and other high-cost lenders to use banks as a fig leaf to offer predatory loans at interest rates of 100 percent APR or higher that are prohibited under state rate cap laws.

Joint Letter: Coalition Urges Intuit to Reject Proposal on Forced Shareholder Arbitration

The measure, which is scheduled for a vote at the company’s annual meeting next week, would block investors harmed by securities fraud or other corporate legal violations from bringing their claims as a class in a court of law, before a judge and jury. This would effectively end most shareholders’ ability to recover their losses in such cases, as they cannot affordably be brought individually in arbitration by any but the very largest institutional investors.

News Release: New CFPB Task Force Runs Counter to Agency Mission

“The CFPB is dropping the ball on enforcing and drafting federal rules to actually protect the public from rip offs and discrimination in lending,” said Linda Jun, senior policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund. “Creating and hiring a new task force stacked with industry representatives and ideological opponents of regulation is one more move that runs directly counter to the CFPB’s basic mission.”