AFREF and 23 signatories submitted a comment letter calling on the Treasury Department and the IRS to finalize a rule implementing the 1% stock buybacks excise tax with strong anti-avoidance provisions.
AFREF and 11 organizations submitted a comment letter to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) in support of a proposal to require public accounting firms to publicly report specified firm- and engagement-level metrics. If finalized, these metrics would provide investors, audit committees, and other stakeholders critical information to compare audit firms, make better-informed decisions, and enhance auditor accountability.
AFREF, Public Citizen, and other allies sent a letter to President Biden urging him to nominate a strong progressive leader to head the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) at this critical juncture.
AFREF submitted a second brief with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Reserve calling on the banking regulators to reject the proposed Capital One-Discover merger. The proposed Capital One-Discover merger would have significant anti-competitive impacts that would harm consumers and communities. The merger also fails to meet the requirements and conditions of the Bank Merger Act and Bank Holding Company Act. It fails to meet the convenience and needs of communities by raising consumer credit card costs, having a record of misleading marketing and aggressive debt collection, and closing two-thirds of its branches over the past 15 years.
AFREF and more than thirty allied organizations signed onto a letter calling for the banking agencies to finalize strong bank regulatory capital proposals. These are urgently needed to increase the large banks’ safety and soundness, strengthen financial system stability, and preserve ordinary people’s access to financial services.
AFR and partners led a letter opposing a set of financial institution bills scheduled for markup tomorrow, May 17th in the House. Title I of the first bill (H.R. 8337) is particularly egregious and would result in ~100 banking organizations being removed from CFPB oversight, among other negative consequences for Qualified mortgage requirements, the Durbin amendment cap, the Volcker rule and others. H.R. 758 compromises safety and soundness standards while not addressing the root causes of de novo bank challenges.
Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) wrote a letter to the House Financial Services Committee expressing our strong opposition to legislation that the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) is scheduled to consider this week that would amend the federal securities laws in ways that could be profoundly damaging to American workers and “mom and pop” investors.
Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) and partners led a letter the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) to express our opposition to a legislation package that the committee is scheduled to markup this week. The collection of bills would erode consumer protections, enable predatory lenders, and hamstring the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability to fulfill its mandate
AFREF and Public Citizen led a coalition letter urging the six relevant agencies to implement section 956 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires them to promulgate a rule banning incentive-based executive pay that incentivizes inappropriate risk-taking. A year after the 2023 banking crisis — and almost fourteen years after the statutory mandate was enacted — we do not have a rule to protect consumers, depositors, and the public from executives’ excessive risk-taking.
AFR joined the Consumer Federation of America and 18 other civil rights, housing, and climate advocacy groups in writing this letter to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners regarding the need for a public, transparent, and national data collection on the property and casualty insurance market.