“Asked to evaluate Cordray’s performance, John Carey, spokesman for the consumer coalition called Americans for Financial Reform, said: ‘There are reasons that Director Cordray received a wide range of support, across the political spectrum, from those that know and worked with him in Ohio. He is fair, tough and thoughtful, and those traits were on full display yesterday.’”
“Nearly two dozen professors and groups have joined the effort. Bank of America, the Fed and the Treasury declined to comment on the planned petition. …the letter was distributed on a list-serve for a coalition called Americans for Financial Reform…”
“‘It is specious to the point of misleading to suggest that the needs for liquidity currently provided by banks will not be filled,’ Wallace Turbeville, who represented Americans for Financial Reform, a nonprofit group that favors new restrictions on Wall Street risk-taking, told a Congressional committee this month.”
“Consumer groups and supporters of the rule have leaned on regulators to stick to the implementation timeline and pushed back against assertions that the rule will damage capital markets. The arguments from financial firms ‘are all founded on the irrational assumption that, once bank proprietary trading ceases under the Volcker Rule, others will not expand to meet demand,’ Wallace C. Turbeville, a former Goldman Sachs banker, said in testimony prepared for the hearing on behalf of Americans for Financial Reform, an umbrella organization made up of consumer groups, labor unions and civil rights law firms.”
“However, a representative of the group Americans for Financial Reform argued the Volcker Rule is a vital safeguard for the financial system, ensuring that American taxpayers no longer effectively guarantee risky trading done by insured depository institutions.”
“Lawmakers are considering new policies aimed at preventing a repeat of the MF Global debacle…the committee’s chairwoman, Senator Debbie Stabenow, sent roughly 20 letters on Wednesday to some of the industry’s biggest players, seeking suggestions for new policies. … She sent letters to consumer advocacy groups, including Americans for Financial Reform…”
“The bill’s critics, including POGO, the AFL-CIO and Americans for Financial Reform, also wrote a letter to lawmakers warning of its impact on whistleblower protections. The bill, the letter said, ‘is an extreme approach that would silence would-be whistleblowers, endanger critical inside informants, undermine investigations, hamstring enforcement at the SEC and [Commodity Futures Trading Commission], and provide lawbreaking financial firms with an escape hatch from accountability.’”
“Marcus Stanley, policy director for Americans for Financial Reform, a consumer advocacy group, did not want to comment on Lew specifically. But he said the ascension of another official with big bank experience is a sign that the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington continues to swing. ‘Many political elites in both parties have moved through Wall Street,’ Stanley said. ‘In some cases, they worked at the same institutions as those lobbying against effective implementation of Dodd-Frank. I hope and expect that in a government role they can set that past aside and implement the law as written.”
“The final regulations are a ‘significant weakening’ of the CFTC’s original proposal, Marcus Stanley, policy director of Americans for Financial Reform, which includes AFL-CIO and other labor unions, said in an e-mail today. ‘The numerous opt-outs, exceptions, and safe harbors in the final rule can effectively give swap dealers a free pass out of compliance with key statutory protections,’ Stanley said.”
“Another consumer group shared Roper’s concerns. ‘These rules, unlike the initial proposal, are simply not sufficient to fully implement the Dodd-Frank protections,’ Americans for Financial Reform said in a release.”