“Mandatory margin requires participants in the swaps market to take full account of the risks of their derivatives transactions and provide some level of advance provisioning for such risks. The availability of properly segregated margin is clearly of enormous value in case of the default of a swaps counterparty.”
“On behalf of Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), we write today to ask you to ensure appropriate regulatory oversight of derivatives transactions conducted through foreign subsidiaries of multinational Wall Street banks. In particular, we urge you to prevent the inappropriate classification of such derivatives as ‘non-guaranteed’ by the parent company, a classification which could exempt them from numerous critical derivatives regulations.”
AFR sent a letter to House and Senate members asking them to oppose S. 2732, the “Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Examination and Reporting Threshold Act of 2014.” This legislation would increase from $10 billion to $50 billion the asset threshold for “large banks” subject to supervision by the CFPB, dramatically reducing the number of large banks supervised by the CFPB threatening harm to the hundreds of millions of consumers who are beginning to benefit from effective oversight of these institutions.
A Capitol Hill briefing with JARED BERNSTEIN, Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; former chief economist to the Vice President; SARAH ANDERSON, Global Economy Project Director, Institute for Policy Studies; DAVID HILLMAN, Director of Stamp Out Poverty and Founder of the Robin Hood Tax Campaign (UK); ANDREW HANAUER, Campaigns Director, Jubilee USA Network; HEATHER SLAVKIN CORZO, Director of the AFL-CIO Office of Investment; and ROBERT WEISSMAN, President of Public Citizen.
“Broad consensus on the real-life harms caused by these lending products has united consumers in all 50 states and forged an unprecedented call of concern linking 467 organizations including civil rights leaders, clergy, labor, veterans, elder and consumer advocates. Pending legislation and an upcoming rule by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) together triggered a deluge of advocacy with a single purpose: stop the debt trap of triple-digit interest rates on a range of predatory products like payday, car title and high-cost installment loans.”
Mel Watt is being urged again to end the policy of prohibiting mortgage modifications that reduce the balance of principal. In a joint letter delivered today, more than 200 housing, community, labor, civil rights and consumer groups call on Watt to reverse the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s longstanding ban on principal reduction – a policy put in place by his predecessor.
“When these financial predators come after them, I feel ashamed for the rest of us,” Sen. Warren tells former Rep. Patrick Murphy. She goes on to praise the Defense Department’s new Military Lending Act rules, the CFPB’s Office of Servicemember Affairs, and (responding to a comment by Murphy) Americans for Financial Reform. “Yes, they’ve been terrific.”
AFR was joined by 546 civil rights, consumer, labor, faith and community organizations from all 50 states in a letter urging the CFPB to put in place strong rules that will end abusive practices in ‘quick fix’ consumer lending such as payday, auto-title and installment loans.
AFR’s Policy Director, Marcus Stanley, gave a presentation at Brookings Institution’s forum on systemic risk regulation of the insurance industry.
AFR joined 47 organizations in supporting the CFPB’s work to make its complaint database public and accessible by consumers. This will help consumers make more informed decisions about how to choose the best products and services for their needs, and how to protect themselves from problems.