As the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) closes a comment period on two proposed rules that would create a standard framework for funds classified as environmental, social, and governance (ESG), advocacy groups today called on the agency to adopt stricter standards for the fastest-growing investment asset sector in the world.
Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (AFREF) submitted comments to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on their proposed rules regarding fund names and required Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosures for investment funds and advisers. These proposed rules would prevent the use of misleading
Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, along with 25 undersigned organizations, is pleased to submit comments responding to the Joint Notice of Public Rulemaking (NPR) from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (collectively “the agencies”) regarding changes to the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA).
AFREF, Public Citizen, The Sunrise Project, and Sierra Club submitted a comment to the International Sustainability Standards Board on their Climate-related Disclosures Exposure Draft. The Board requested broad stakeholder feedback on its proposal, which reflected the need for users of general purpose financial reporting to
AFFEF joined a letter urging President Biden to extend, expand, and coordinate more closely the current Public Service Loan Forgiveness waiver and Income-Driven Repayment Adjustment in order to fulfill the promise of affordable and manageable loan repayment for borrowers.
AFR joined a letter from a partner organization, Take Medicine Back, to the North Carolina attorney general about the role of private equity in the corporate practice of emergency medicine.
AFR joined a letter calling on President Biden to extend the payment pause on student loans until he cancels student debt.
A decades-long campaign to overturn Roe vs. Wade has succeeded thanks to a hard-right turn by a Supreme Court packed with justices appointed by President Trump. The right to abortion is more than a medical procedure. Reproductive freedom is an element of economic justice, and the restrictions and bans that are not long in coming will surely fall hardest on Black and Brown communities. Congress needs to act quickly to secure this right.
AFREF sent a Follow Up Comment to the Securities and Exchange Commission expressing support for its proposals that would require private fund advisers to provide their investors with greater and more detailed information around the fees, expenses, returns, and bilateral investment relations (via side letters). We echo many of the comments the SEC has since received since its initial comment period and reflect how current market conditions make the Commission’s proposals especially a priority given the variation in the reporting and valuation of private market assets.
In the more than 150 years since the end of the Civil War, Black American wealth remains a fraction of that held by White Americans. Just after emancipation in 1865, African Americans owned 0.5% of national wealth. While closing this divide is essential to achieving racial equity in this country, it’s important that we apply the right tools for the job. We can’t properly solve problems without understanding their origins. The growing divide between White wealth and Black wealth is a product of economic systems designed to extract wealth from Black, Indigenous, and other people of color and redirect it to the wealthy, almost uniformly White elite.