AFR

Big banks have lobbied for and won massive tax breaks and increased deregulation at a time when they are already making record profits. Ordinary Americans are getting a less safe financial system, and one that is an ever-more-powerful driver of inequality and economic vulnerability. Wall Street CEOs need to be held accountable for abuses by the institutions they run, and the dangerous policies they are pushing, both openly and quietly

Over the past two years, we’ve seen a lot of handouts to Wall Street but very little change for the better. Big banks got a massive tax cut and deregulation legislation right at the time they were making record profits. Ordinary Americans got a financial system that is less safe than it used to be, one that is an ever-more-powerful driver of inequality and economic vulnerability.

Corporate lobbyists have put together a set of plans aimed at making it easier for executives to serve nothing but their own narrow self-interests without any scrutiny, eliminating accountability to the shareholders who actually own the company.

The requirement in the Dodd-Frank Act that major dealers in financial derivatives be regulated as such, and meet risk management and business conduct standards, is a direct response to derivatives market abuses that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis. The loophole created by today’s Final Rule could permit large-scale evasion of this requirement.

Washington, DC – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has proposed delaying when payday lenders would need to comply with a 2017 rule on predatory payday lenders by 15 months. This would allow the industry …

Wells Fargo workers have long demanded better protection, including a union, as well as a genuine seat at the table to help ensure the bank’s dangerous practices are kept in check. On the day of the hearing, workers will also deliver a petition to Sloan calling on him to meet with front-line workers to address the toxic, high-pressure environment that still exists for thousands of Wells Fargo employees.

This decision increases risks to the public. It is just one of numerous current and proposed deregulatory changes, to both the stress tests and other prudential requirements, which are currently in process at banking regulators.

Today, CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger is set to testify in front of the House Financial Services Committee, marking her first oversight hearing since being narrowly confirmed last December. Kraninger will now have to answer to a new chair, Rep. Maxine Waters, and a majority that is demanding answers to why the agency has sided with the industry over consumers.