In the News Archives - Page 6 of 34 - Americans for Financial Reform

In The News: American exceptionalism on climate risk amplifies financial instability (Green Central Banking)

“… it’s called climate change because the climate is changing, and much faster than scientists originally anticipated. We cannot merely use past data to predict future climate impacts,” wrote Alex Martin, senior policy analyst at AFR. “We must take a precautionary approach and heed the stern warnings from scientists about our dire current global trajectory. The US will not be spared the effects.”

In The News: Wall Street Braces for Big Changes Over the Next Five Years (Bloomberg)

“Wall Street will face renewed scrutiny from the American public about the privileges it enjoys thanks to a political system that for far too long went along with what the industry wanted, no matter the costs to the rest of us,” said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform.

In the News: A New Vision for a Just Financial System (The Washington Monthly)

“Blaming deposit insurance itself, however much the rescue of SVB depositors sticks in the craw, would be precisely the wrong reaction to this year’s crisis. The true injustice of the moment lies not in extending deposit insurance but in the paucity of obligations that bankers face in return,” AFR’s Communication Director, Carter Dougherty wrote.

In The News: People Are Organizing to Fight the Private Equity Firms Who Own Their Homes (VICE)

“We have to think much more deeply as a society about how we view housing and whose interests are worth protecting the most,” [Caroline] Nagy, [senior policy analyst at AFR] said. “Looking at our tax and finance policy and seeing that we’re incentivizing the exact opposite is a very difficult, problematic place to be in.”

In The News: Bank Turmoil Is Paving the Way for Even Bigger ‘Shadow Banks (NYT-DealBook)

“They will say, ‘we have a good control on our risk,’ but you generate these returns somehow — these higher returns,” said Andrew Park, a senior policy analyst at the advocacy group Americans for Financial Reform. “There is no free lunch on that.”

In The News: Fed faults Silicon Valley Bank execs, itself in bank failure (AP)

Alexa Philo, a former bank examiner for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and senior policy analyst at Americans for Financial Reform, said the Fed could adopt stricter rules on its own, without relying on Congress. “It is long past time to roll back the dangerous deregulation under the last administration to the greatest extent possible, and pay close attention to the largest banks so this crisis does not worsen,” she said.

In The News: A leading private equity firm claimed to be a climate leader – while increasing emissions (The Guardian)

“Despite its public statements to the contrary, Carlyle is a driving force behind climate change through its substantial financing of greenhouse gas emitting sectors,” said Oscar Valdés Viera, co-author and research manager at the Americans for Financial Reform education fund.

In the News: Child care costs rising with more private equity firm investments (Scripps News)

“Increasingly, in the past — especially after the pandemic — we’ve seen this big surge in parents who are interested in providing other activities for their kids that they weren’t able to previously do. And so, as a result of that, we’ve seen much more money from the private equity industry go into childcare,” said Andrew Park, senior policy analyst at Americans for Financial Reform.

In The News: ‘It’s a wake-up call’: Advocacy groups, lawmakers highlight law they say led to SVB collapse (USA TODAY)

“It’s a wake-up call,” Renita Marcellin, advocacy and legislative director for Americans for Financial Reform, a financial-reform group in Washington, D.C. told USA TODAY. “Congress should be thinking and starting to figure out how to repeal this law.”

In The News: Was This a Bailout? Skeptics Descend on Silicon Valley Bank Response. (The New York Times)

“At the end of the day, what has been shown is that the explicit guarantee extended to the globally systemic banks is now extended to everyone,” said Renita Marcellin, legislative and advocacy director at Americans for Financial Reform. “We have this implicit guarantee for everyone, but not the rules and regulations that should be paired with these guarantees.”