AFR in the News Archives - Page 7 of 58 - Americans for Financial Reform

AFR in the News: Gary Cohn is Giving Goldman Sachs Everything It Ever Wanted (The Intercept)

“No other piece of Dodd-Frank “mattered to Goldman quite like the Volcker Rule, which would protect banks’ solvency by limiting their freedom to make speculative trades with their own money. Unless Goldman could initiate what [AFR Policy Director Marcus] Stanley called the ‘complexity two-step’ — win a carve-out so a new rule wouldn’t interfere with legitimate business and then use that carve-out to render a rule toothless — Volcker would slam the door shut on the entire direction in which Blankfein and Cohn had taken Goldman.”

AFR in the News: Before its massive data breach, Equifax fought to kill a rule allowing victims to sue (LA Times)

“The regulation, issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on July 10 and scheduled to go into effect in mid-January, came under attack by Republicans in Congress ‘before the ink was even dry,’ says Amanda Werner of Americans for Financial Reform, which is fighting to retain the rule… Consumer privacy advocates hope that the Equifax debacle will remind senators of the importance of the rule. ‘We need to look at how consumers are going to be able to hold these firms accountable,’ Werner says.”

AFR in the News: Equifax breach may kill repeal of CFPB mandatory arbitration rule (American Banker)

“At least one Republican has already defected—and Crapo can only afford to lose one more… Amanda Werner, campaign manager at the consumer group Americans for Financial Reform and the liberal watchdog group Public Citizen, said ‘it is pretty appalling that Equifax would exploit consumers need for identify theft protection in the wake of this crisis they created in order to avoid accountability.’”

AFR in the News: Quick Cordray Action Could Open Payday Rule to Challenge, says Hensarling (Morning Consult)

“The payday rule is seen as one of the last major Cordray-era regulatory proposals that haven’t been finalized, and consumer advocacy groups and liberal Democrats who support the CFPB have also been supportive of the rule proposal as a key measure to prevent consumers from getting mired in debt. Jose Alcoff, campaign organizer at Americans for Financial Reform, defended the bureau’s approach to the payday loans issue. ‘It’s been 29 months since the proposal was first outlined, and 15 since it was formally put to the public… We do need a rule soon to curb these abuses.’”

AFR in the News: Wells Fargo’s Testimony Left Some Feeling Shortchanged (NY Times)

“This lapse calls for new congressional hearings on Wells Fargo, according to 33 consumer groups. Led by Americans for Financial Reform and Public Citizen, two left-leaning consumer organizations, the groups sent a letter late Thursday to leadership of the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee urging them to bring Wells Fargo executives back to Capitol Hill to answer questions about the bank’s stream of abuses.”

AFR in the News: Dodd-Frank is still here but banks have reasons to cheer Trump (Financial Times)

“Americans for Financial Reform… noted that the [Treasury] report followed recommendations from The Clearing House, a powerful trade association, in 31 out of 40 specific cases. In some instances, the language of the government and the language of the lobbyists was hard
to tell apart… ‘We’ve reached a point in this administration when big banks and private-equity funds have placed so many people in the top jobs, they hardly need to worry about lobbyists and trade associations any more,’ says Jim Lardner, a senior fellow at AFR”.

AFR in the News: Wells Fargo Scandal Helps Consumer Advocates in CFPB Rule Fight (Bloomberg BNA)

“Consumer groups are invoking Wells Fargo as they seek to persuade a handful of Republican senators to help defeat a potential September vote on a resolution blocking the arbitration rule. ‘We’ve definitely pointed to Wells Fargo as pretty much the poster child for why we need this rule,’ Amanda Werner, campaign manager at consumer groups Americans for Financial Reform and Public Citizen, told Bloomberg BNA.”

AFR in the News: The Great Escape: How Credit Raters Ducked Reform (Bloomberg)

“The issuer-pays model remains an incentive for raters to go easy on clients, says Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform… ‘As long as ratings agencies are both central to securities markets and face incentives to inflate ratings and mislead investors, they pose a risk to the financial system…'”

AFR in the News: New U.S. rule on class actions survives first challenge (Reuters)

“A new U.S. rule aimed at restoring consumers’ ability to band together to sue financial companies has survived its first challenge, as a top banking regulator on Monday said he would not petition for it to be suspended… ‘The rule is a well thought-out response to the serious consumer harm of forced arbitration,’ said Brian Marshall, policy counsel for advocacy group Americans for Financial Reform.”

TOWS in the News: Progressives revive attacks on Wall Street in health care’s wake (Washington Post)

“[A]s the seventh anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act approaches Friday, a coalition of progressive groups is pushing the party to get back on offense. The groups… organized under the banner of ‘Take on Wall Street’ — aim to crank up grassroots heat on elected Democrats. They want party leaders, though deep in the minority, to revive some of the get-tough measures they campaigned on last year, when they expected to win at least the White House.”