All posts by team

News Release: Yellen Nomination Creates Potential for Ambitious Financial Reform Agenda

The Treasury Secretary has the authority to drive an ambitious agenda for economic, racial, and climate justice, and to use financial regulation as an important tool of that work. As Yellen has herself noted in recent remarks, this moment of crisis has made it particularly clear that a new administration needs to not only undo the dangerous Trump administration deregulation of Wall Street, but also move well beyond the preceding status quo.

Report: Kraninger Lets Industry “Drive the Agenda” at CFPB, Even During COVID-19 Pandemic

Kathleen Kraninger, the current director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told an audience of bankers at a November  2019 industry gathering that “you are really helping drive the agenda.” Unfortunately for the public and for consumer financial protection, the Kraninger agenda and the Wall Street lobby’s priorities are indeed all too similar, even during the COVID-19 pandemic and massive economic distress.

SEC Building

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.

sign for the CFPB outside a building

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.

Federal reserve board

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.