AFR in the News Archives - Page 24 of 58 - Americans for Financial Reform

AFR in the News: Ross Holds Money Lead Over Cohn in House Race (Lakeland Ledger)

“After the financial collapse, Congress made great strides in regulating the financial industry so that we reduce the chance of another Great Recession,” [candidate Alan] Cohn said in an email. “Ross is using his place on the House Financial Services (Committee) to undo those regulations for financial favors at the expense of the middle class.” Americans for Financial Reform, which tracks Congress members for votes on financial regulation, lists Ross as having often voted along party lines in opposition to reforms that protect consumers.

AFR in the News: Banking on Influence (Slate)

“Rep. Shelley Moore Capito wants West Virginians to know she’s a defender of community banks… Capito, who chairs the subcommittee that oversees consumer lending and finance companies, is married to a banker who has worked for Wells Fargo and Citigroup. ‘One characteristic of her bills is that they do include community banks, but they would also help much larger banks,’ said Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform…”

AFR in the News: Elizabeth Warren on Predatory Lending to Service Members (MSNBC)

“When these financial predators come after them, I feel ashamed for the rest of us,” Sen. Warren tells former Rep. Patrick Murphy. She goes on to praise the Defense Department’s new Military Lending Act rules, the CFPB’s Office of Servicemember Affairs, and (responding to a comment by Murphy) Americans for Financial Reform. “Yes, they’ve been terrific.”

AFR in the News: Inside the NY Federal Reserve (BBC)

“There are really two elements to this story,” Marcus Stanley of Americans for Finance Reform said. “One is the internal Federal Reserve self-evaluation… that did say that Federal Reserve supervisors tended to be overly deferential to the banks that they supervise [and] tended to be reluctant to take action and reluctant to raise strong criticisms. And then… you get these tapes made by Carmen Segarra which appear to show this exact sort of deferential behavior.”

AFR in the News: Finding Out How Much the Boss Earns (Washington Post)

“This rule is not a cure-all or a magic bullet,” says Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform. “It’s relevant information for investors about how a company works. This disclosure is one piece of the puzzle, but it’s useful to have public and standard — or relatively standard — information.”

AFR in the News: Court Ruling Strengthens Swap Rules Overseas (Bloomberg)

“Marcus Stanley, policy director for Americans for Financial Reform, a coalition including the AFL-CIO labor federation, said the decision should bolster the agency’s efforts to curb recent steps by Wall Street to escape Dodd-Frank by shifting their overseas trading operations. ‘I really hope that this decision is going to stiffen the CFTC’s backbone,’ Stanley said in a phone interview.”

AFR in the News: House Votes to Audit Fed and Deregulate Wall Street (Huffington Post)

Although the GOP is eager to expose the Fed’s dealings with big banks, it is equally anxious to dole out favors to financial operators… One deregulation bill, H.R. 5405, would exempt a significant swath of the market for derivatives — the complex financial products at the heart of the 2008 meltdown — from Dodd-Frank’s new trading rules. Americans for Financial Reform, the leading voice for Wall Street accountability on Capitol Hill, came out strong against H.R. 5405 and the other deregulation bill, H.R. 5461.

AFR in the News: Regulators Propose Rule to Reduce Risk of Derivatives (NY Times)

“’This is a really important rule,’” said Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform. ‘Margin is the first line of defense in the derivatives market.’ The regulators made the changes to bring American margin rules in line with new international ones approved in 2013, and in response to public comments.

“’While it has taken us some time to get to this point, today’s action does represent significant progress,’ Thomas J. Curry, the comptroller of the currency, said in a statement.”

AFR in the News: Banks Push to Delay Rule on Investments (Wall Street Journal)

“Banks are pressing U.S. policy makers for a multiyear delay of a rule requiring them to sell investments in private-equity and venture-capital funds…,” the Journal reports. The article goes on to cite critics of the calls for delay, including AFR’s Marcus Stanley. “This is supposed to be a regulatory option in special circumstances,” he told the Journal. “It’s not supposed to be an automatic permission for every bank to get a 12-year period after passage of Dodd-Frank to divest from venture funds.”

AFR in the News: Financial Services Influence – Follow the Money (Politico)

The financial industry has “spent more than $800 million on contributions to campaigns and on federal lobbying so far this election cycle,” PoliticoPro reports, citing AFR’s new report, “Wall Street Money in Washington,” which draws on data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. The report, as the paywalled story goes on to say, “found the financial sector has contributed $245 million to political campaigns, as of June 30, and spent nearly $560 million on lobbying through March.”