View or download a PDF of the letter here Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund joined the Homes Guarantee Campaign and over 300 national, state, and local organizations to call on the Federal Housing Finance Agency to require tenant protections in order to receive federal
AFREF joined Public Citizen in a comment urging PCAOB to strengthen and swiftly finalize its proposed updated audit standards around reporting noncompliance with laws and regulations and identifying risks of material misstatement in financial statements. Climate-related accounting fraud is on the rise, and many companies are misrepresenting their financial position by underestimating their asset retirement obligations and environmental liabilities, and failing to substantiate public climate commitments in their financial statements and SEC filings.
The proposed regulatory updates from PCAOB would strengthen auditors’ responsibilities to identify and report these types of misstatements and fraud and provide a significant benefit to investors by catching costly noncompliance issues early before they harm financial performance, and to the public by deterring corporate law-breaking and noncompliance.
Americans for Financial Reform sent a letter to the House Financial Services Committee opposing bills that undermine shareholders’ ability to make sound financial decisions and hold corporations accountable. In our letter, we provide an overview of the bills noticed during the various ESG hearings and briefly discuss why we oppose them.
From A for Ambulance to Z for Zamboni, this book takes the reader on an alphabetical journey through the myriad ways that private equity has encroached into most parts of everyday life.
Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund submitted a comment to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) supporting its proposal to prohibit conflicts of interest in securitizations. Such conflicts were at the heart of the Great Financial Crisis of 2008 leading to trillions of dollars in losses across the financial system and irreparable harm to millions of homeowners. Now, with the growth in securitizations such as those backed by commercial real estate and other assets, the SEC’s proposals can ensure that similar practices do not happen again at the harm of investors and others.
New study by the American Antitrust Institute and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund calls attention to the growing presence of private equity ownership in the home healthcare sector.
AFREF submitted comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on its proposal to modernize the regulatory process to better account for racial and economic inequality, climate change, and other factors within economic analysis; and improve transparency and empower and benefit members of marginalized communities through the regulatory process.
Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund and 12 other signers submitted a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission reiterating the need for the SEC to finalize a strong set of rules to better protect investors in private funds, which include hedge funds and private equity.
AFREF submitted a comment to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on their proposed rule to require the disclosure of important information regarding the ownership and control of nursing facilities, including when an owning or managing entity is a private equity (PE) company or a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).
Private equity and healthcare are incompatible and AFREF states in the letter that the current lack of transparency in ownership of facilities exacerbates the problem and shields owners and investors from accountability for the performance of the businesses they own and welcomes the disclosure rule.
AFREF joined a comment letter that strongly supports the CFPB’s proposed safe harbor of $8 for credit card late fees. The CFPB provided ample evidence that this amount is fair, reasonable, and proportional to the costs incurred by issuers for late payments.