“If the regulators finish the rule soon, the Wells Fargo incident will be fresh in their minds. Marcus Stanley, policy director for Americans for Financial Reform, is counting on Wells Fargo acting as a shield against bank lobbying. ‘I think it will make it more difficult,’ Stanley said. ‘What I’m hoping is that it’ll make it easier for us to lobby to make it tougher.’”
“Two top institutional shareholders in the world’s most valuable bank by market capitalisation have demanded answers over payments to Carrie Tolstedt, who headed the division where the episode took place… Brian Simmonds Marshall, policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform, said: ‘Those who are responsible for the misconduct should not be getting bonuses for costing their shareholders and their customers money.'”
“The bill’s opponents — including [Rep. Maxine] Waters and the advocacy group Americans for Financial Reform — question why Congress would undo some restrictions on private equity just as the S.E.C. was identifying problems in the industry. In particular, the opponents have raised concerns about a provision that would reduce the amount of information that large private equity fund managers report to regulators…”
“A Securities and Exchange Commission proposal to place caps on registered investment firms’ exposures to derivatives is showing the hallmarks of a classic Washington battle — the industry is trying to tamp down advocacy groups’ requests for broad regulations. Although the SEC hasn’t announced its plans, lobbyists who have been watching the derivatives rule expect the agency to move forward in the coming months. Watchdog groups like Better Markets and Americans for Financial Reform have championed the proposal…”
“The bad news, for Ms Warren’s supporters, is that new laws will be hard to pass. The good news is that the existing laws, including Dodd-Frank and the SEC’s governing legislation, already give future appointees all the authority they will need. What they do not believe they need is Wall Street experience. Marcus Stanley, policy director of the union-backed Americans for Financial Reform, the investor group, speaks for many progressives in stating: ‘We are reversing the status quo of many decades.’”
AFR’s Marcus Stanley writes: “The 2008 crisis was catastrophic for the global economy not simply because nonbank financial institutions failed, but because the problems in nonbanks spread throughout the financial system and threatened to bring down giant megabanks that combined commercial and investment banking, such as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America. Glass-Steagall firewalls between Wall Street trading markets and ordinary commercial banking are directly relevant to stopping this kind of contagion.”
“VICE has obtained exclusive transcripts of this year’s annual meeting of the Community Financial Services Association of America… at the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort. That’s where lenders were taught exactly what it might take to beat back an existential threat to their business. Trapping people in unaffordable debt is ‘their business model,’ said Gynnie Robnett [of] Americans for Financial Reform… ‘And they seem determined to preserve it, any weasel-y way they can.'”
Tapping into the strong anti-Wall Street sentiment, on July 13th, Representative DeFazio reintroduced his financial transaction tax legislation as the “Putting Main Street FIRST Act: Finish Irresponsible Reckless Speculative Trading Act.” The reintroduction of this bill comes with a fresh score from the Joint
“[A]lexis Goldstein, a senior analyst at Americans for Financial Reform, thinks banks might be too complacent. She notes that a recent poll shows that 75% of Americans think banks need to tougher laws. ‘I think it’s clear that voters are still very unhappy about this,’ says Goldstein. She thinks it will be hard for either party to ignore the voter outrage.”
“The banks have had plenty of warning, and they’ve had a good market to sell their holdings, said Marcus Stanley, policy director for Americans for Financial Reform. They ‘want to hit the snooze button again over and over with the Fed,’ Stanley said… ‘The regulators have to be prepared to say, Time’s up.’ ”