AFR in the News Archives - Page 22 of 57 - Americans for Financial Reform

AFR in the News: In New Congress, Wall St. Pushes to Undermine Dodd-Frank Reform (NY Times)

“The financial industry has been methodical, drafting technically complicated legislation that can pass the heavily Republican House with a few Democratic votes. And then, once approved, Wall Street has pushed to tack such measures on to larger bills considered too important for the White House to block. ‘This all works together: Put it up for stand-alone vote, get some Democrats on it, and then when you push it onto a must-pass bill, say it’s a bipartisan bill that’s already passed,’ said Marcus Stanley, policy director of Americans for Financial Reform.

AFR in the News: Main Street Banks Play the Wall Street Lobbying Game (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

“PNC, the nation’s 10th largest bank, hasn’t spent the past few years just building itself into a financial behemoth. Like many other banks, it’s built up political capital too. And last year, it spent some of that currency to help roll back a regulation [that] barred banks with federally insured deposits from engaging in certain potentially high-risk financial transactions… Swaps have legitimate uses, but ‘when things go wrong in this area, they go very very wrong,’ said Marcus Stanley [of] Americans for Financial Reform.”

AFR in the News: Kicking Dodd-Frank in the Teeth (NY Times)

“We’re going to see repeated attempts to go in with seemingly technical changes that intimidate regulators and keep them from putting teeth in regulations,” predicted Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform… “If we return to the precrisis business as usual, where it’s routine for people to accommodate Wall Street on these technical changes, they’re just going to unravel the postcrisis regulation piece by piece.”

AFR in the News: Pay-Disclosure Advocates Chafe at SEC Rule Delays (MarketWatch)

Supporters of a rule that would require public companies to disclose the ratio between executive and median employee pay say the Securities and Exchange Commission should move soon to enact the regulation. “It’s one of the simplest, most straightforward Dodd-Frank rules,” said Marcus Stanley, policy director of Americans for Financial Reform.

AFR in the News: Banks Win More Time to Sell Private Equity Stakes (USA Today)

Americans for Financial Reform… called the Fed action disappointing and said it “raises serious questions about regulators’ intentions to properly enforce the Volcker Rule.” “Since proprietary trading can occur through the mechanism of external funds, the delay in divestment requirements for covered funds will greatly weaken the enforcement of other crucial parts of the Volcker Rule as well,” the organization said.

AFR in the News: Payday Lenders Throw Millions at Powerful Politicians to Get Their Way (CNN)

Since the beginning of 2013, high-cost loan providers and those with ties to the industry have spent more than $13 million on lobbying and campaign donations to at least 50 lawmakers, according to a new report from the nonprofit Americans for Financial Reform. Recipients include big names on both sides of the aisle…

AFR in the News: Massive Bill’s Reform Deficit (Scranton Times)

“[As] part of a $1.1 trillion compromise to continue running the government that Congress passed over the weekend, [a] crucial Dodd-Frank reform effectively was repealed. Big investment banks once again will be able to use federally insured deposits and other public protections to throw the dice on lightly regulated derivatives — private profit, public risk.. [I]n Washington, money not only talks, it writes the law.”

AFR in the News: Critics Say Spending Bill Includes a Bonanza for Wall Street (NBC TV)

Marcus Stanley, policy director for Americans for Financial Reform, which advocates for tighter regulation of Wall Street, said the big winners would be three large banks — Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America. “These derivatives markets are very lucrative,” Stanley said in an interview Friday. “And that safety net subsidy, that deposit insurance subsidy, gives you a very large advantage. There’s a lot of money involved in this.”

AFR in the News: Wall Street Spent $1.2 Billion in Campaign Donations, Lobbying This Cycle (The Street.com)

“The spending is the largest ever for the sector in mid-term elections, and financial services is the largest source of campaign contributions and the second-largest spender on lobbying, according to the report from Americans for Financial Reform, a nonpartisan coalition of civil rights, consumer and other public interest groups.”

AFR in the News: Warren Dubs Weiss a Bank ‘Dealmaker’ Lacking Resume for Treasury (Bloomberg)

“Not every person who swoops in through the revolving door should be offered a top job without some serious cross-examination,” [Senator Elizabeth Warren] said in prepared remarks at an event organized by Americans for Financial Reform, the Economic Policy Institute and the Roosevelt Institute. “Qualifications matter, and Weiss doesn’t have them.”