Tuesday Mar. 20: Capitol Hill briefing sponsored by Americans for Financial Reform, Center for Responsible Lending, Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, NAACP, National Association of Consumer Advocates, National Consumer Law Center and National Council of La Raza.
Nineteen members of Congress, led by Barney Frank, a lead author of the Dodd-Frank Act, filed the amicus brief linked below speaking out against the efforts of major Wall Street derivatives dealers to overturn key Dodd-Frank derivatives rules. The brief was drafted by former Just
Six weeks ago, the Commodity Futures Commission issued a staff letter granting temporary permission for U.S. derivatives to be traded on certain European trading platforms that are not compliant with Dodd-Frank rules on transparent derivatives trading. This temporary permission for rules-free trading was only granted
The National Review’s Reihan Salam examines the case for stronger regulation of nonbanks and “market-based financing,” and the political power of those, like the Blackstone Group’s Tony James, who are trying to convince the Obama administration to go slow. Salam expresses an “ideological bias” in favor of James’ position, while acknowledging the “serious and interesting” counter-arguments of AFR’s Marcus Stanley.
While the Administration wants to increase the CFTC’s budget, its $280 million request for FY 2015 is $35 million less than last year’s proposal, The American Banker points out. “We have the mandate, but not the money, to do the job,” Commissioner Bart Chilton said in a press release. Americans for Financial Reform, the story adds, has described underfunding of the CFTC as “a backdoor attack on derivatives regulation.”
Timothy Massad, nominated to lead the CFTC, “has drawn skepticism from [public] interest groups about his views on regulation,” according to Bloomberg, which cites Marcus Stanley, policy director for Americans for Financial Reform. “He’s really something of a blank,” Stanley said. “He doesn’t have a policy or substantive record at least in the areas regulated by the CFTC.”
Increased funding of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is a crucial piece of Wall Street reform. Here’s why.
AFR and more than 15 consumer organizations submitted a letter to the CFPB calling for stronger obligations on debt collectors and creditors, including in particular requirements that they actually have and maintain accurate records of debts, and that they cannot collect without real documentation that people owe and how much, limits on contacts with borrowers, and an end to harassment threatening conduct, including manipulation of credit reporting.
AFR joined the AFL-CIO and more than 40 organizations in sending a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative calling for a public consultation process to review and revise the “investor-state dispute settlement” (ISDS) process. This flawed process grants special legal rights and privileges to foreign-based business interests.
“First, if you don’t like a bill, amendment or provision thereof, you try to defeat it with a vote. Just say, then vote, no (or nay, or whatever). If that fails, go to stage two. You can try to defund it through the appropriations process. If that doesn’t work, there is stage three. This is where you can try to stop it, change it or delay it through the regulatory rule-making process. If all of those things fail, you can go to DEFCON four: litigation. That’s the D.C. Quadrakill: 1. kill bill; 2. defund it; 3. regulate it; and, 4. litigate it.”