AFR in the News Archives - Page 41 of 58 - Americans for Financial Reform

AFR in the News: Jonathan Riskind: Up at bat, Snowe and Collins balk – but why?

‘It is a little hard for me to understand because Congress debated, the president signed, they (Collins and Snowe) voted for the bill that included the creation of the bureau as one of its centerpieces,’ said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform, a coalition that includes consumer and civil rights groups and labor unions. ‘The bureau’s powers are significantly restrained until it has a director in place. So it is kind of going back and trying to undo what was done.’

AFR in the News: Consumer groups warn about weakening financial regulations

“A team of consumer groups warned Tuesday that lobbying by Wall Street could weaken proposed regulations designed to guard against the kind of abusive investment practices that crushed the Bethlehem Area School District in recent years. Speaking at a teleconference, representatives of the Consumer Federation of America, the AFL-CIO, Americans for Financial Reform and Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner said well-financed lobbies are working to disarm regulations initially designed to rein them in.”

AFR in the News: Consumers lose as GOP moves against nominee for new consumer bureau

“…As expected, Republican senators blocked a vote Thursday on whether to approve President Obama’s nominee to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. …A July poll sponsored by AARP, Americans for Financial Reform and the Center for Responsible Lending found that about 63% of Americans favored more government oversight of financial companies, and 74% favored having a single agency focus on protecting consumers from financial organizations.”

AFR in the News: Despite Defeat, Cordray Lobbying Continues

Before the vote, more than 200 organizations, led by Americans for Financial Reform, sent a letter to senators warning that the CFPB’s ability to regulate and protect consumers would be severely restricted without a director.

AFR in the News: Senate Republicans Block Consumer-Bureau Nominee

‘Some senators are taking the extreme step of demanding that the law be reopened and refusing to allow him an up or down vote,’ said Americans for Financial Reform Director Lisa Donner. ‘If they continue, we will urge the president to make a recess appointment.’

AFR in the News: Protect Public Entities and Pension Funds From Abuses

The Consumer Federation of America, Americans for Financial Reform, and the AFL-CIO, hosted a conference call with reporters and bloggers on Tuesday, December 6th to discuss threats to a key Dodd-Frank provision designed to protect municipalities, pensions and other vulnerable swaps market participants from predatory industry practices of the kind that just last month drove Jefferson County, Alabama to declare the nation’s largest ever municipal bankruptcy.

Poll Demonstrates Broad Support for Financial Reform

An overwhelming majority of Americans—Republican, Democratic, and Independent—favor strong, sensible oversight of the financial services industry, including a strong and independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the poll finds.

This Week in Wall Street Reform

Click here to view this week’s highlights and lowlights in Wall Street Reform – November 25, 2011 – December 2, 2011.

AFR in the News: The Volcker Rule and Barclays’ UK Bear Hug

The Volcker Rule and Barclays’ UK Bear Hug – Nick Dunbar

“On Nov. 3rd, I attended the inaugural BBC Today Business Lecture, given by Bob Diamond, the chief executive of Barclays. The man who told the UK Treasury Select Committee that it was time to stop apologising for the financial crisis had been given an image makeover. …The more I thought about it, aside from the change in tone, there was not a great deal of difference between the unrepentant Diamond addressing the Treasury Committee and the contrite version lecturing the BBC. …The answer came to me last week…I was invited by the legislative counsel for Sen. Jeff Merkley, one of the architects of the original Volcker Rule bill, and… Americans for Financial Reform.”

AFR in the News: Politico’s Morning Money Push Back: Volcker Edition

M.M. Push Back: Volcker Edition – Ben White (Politico’s Morning Money)

“ Pro-reform groups were not, ahem, too happy about the anonymous comments from a senior banker in M.M. suggesting the Volcker Rule as drafted goes beyond what the statute intended. … John Carey, Communications Director for Americans for Financial Reform emails: ‘Hard to believe that bankers have a better idea of what Congress intended than Senators Merkley and Levin, who drafted the Volcker Rule. Wall Street lobbyists seem to think that the impact of the rule is limited to taking the word ‘proprietary’ off traders’ business cards. …’