team, Author at Americans for Financial Reform

In The News: Postal Banking: Brought to you by JP Morgan Chase? (Take On Wall Street)

Wall Street has consistently opposed the return of postal banking since its destruction in the 1960s. Chase and other nefarious actors are attempting to prevent competition before it even forms. The 2020 Democratic Party Platform and Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force recommendations both call for postal banking. But they also call on policymakers to separate retail banking institutions from more risky investments and protect consumers from high rates, onerous fees, inequitable credit reporting, and other harms.

In The News: Seeking to Rein in Capitalism, Omidyar Is the Rare Funder Taking on Wall Street (Inside Philanthropy)

“So many fundamental decisions about how the economy works, and who it works for, and who is excluded are made through the decisions we make about finance,” [AFR Executive Director Lisa Donner] said. “There is a huge opportunity to have a transformative impact.”

Letter to Regulators: New “Electronic Trading Risk Principles” Are Inadequate

The AFR Education Fund wrote a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission regarding its proposed new “Electronic Trading Risk Principles”. The letter faulted the principles-based approach as basically allowing Wall Street to regulate itself in this important area. A copy of the letter can

Letters to Regulators: Letter to CFPB on Urging In-Language Outreach to LEP Consumers Facing COVID-19 Hardship and Expansion of Language Access in Mortgage Origination and Servicing

Letter to CFPB urging focused outreach to LEP mortgage borrowers during COVID-19 and expanding language access in mortgage origination and servicing.

In The News: Fed Stimulus Is Resuscitating the High-Yield Bond Market (The Wall Street Journal)

“At these prices, this is not a market screaming, ‘We need help from the Fed,’” said Andrew Park, senior policy analyst at Americans for Financial Reform, which advocates for tighter financial rules on Wall Street.

News Release: Fed Should Avoid Weakening Rules that Limit Private Equity Access to Bailouts

A group of financial reform, labor, and public interest organizations today warned the Federal Reserve not to water down rules that limit the access of companies owned by private equity firms to emergency lending facilities created during the COVID-19 pandemic. Allies of the industry have pressed the Fed to loosen the affiliation rules for its new Main Street Lending Facility, a step that would ease the way for private equity to access public money despite its ready access to capital markets and uninvested capital.

Letter to Congress: Letter from 92 groups urging inclusion of consumer protections in covid-19 relief

Letter from 92 groups urging Congress to include consumer protections in covid-19 relief.

Letters to Regulators: Advocate Letter Urging CFPB Not to Hide Complaint Narratives

Joint letter asking CFPB not to hide complaint narratives in database.

News Release: Senate Pandemic Relief Bill Would Weaken Key Safeguard Against Financial Crisis

A provision inserted by Sen. Mike Crapo, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, would encourage Trump-appointed regulators, who have already sought to reduce the minimum amounts of their own risk capital that banks have to hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, to go further. Sen. Susan Collins, sponsor of the part of Dodd-Frank in 2010 that Crapo wants to gut, has already filed an amendment that would strike the part of Republican bill that would make this change. The Senate should follow her lead and preserve minimum statutory thresholds for bank capital.

Letter to Regulator: Oppose Labor Department Retirement Advice Rulemaking Package

Together, these rules would put the retirement security of millions of American workers and retirees at risk by exposing them to conflicted retirement investment advice without adequate protections to limit the harmful impact of those conflicts of interest. We therefore urge you to withdraw the regulatory package in its entirety and to begin again on a rulemaking proposal that prioritizes protecting retirement savers from the toxic conflicts of interest that pervade the financial services industry.