“This is not a serious piece of legislation. It is, however, a sad reminder of the Financial Services Committee’s apparent willingness, under its current leadership, to do Wall Street’s bidding with breathtaking disregard for the costs to consumers and to the safety of the financial system as a whole.”
“As the consent orders highlight, Wells Fargo’s egregious violations of consumers’ rights were fueled by sales quotas imposed on front-line bank workers. These settlements underline the importance of strong consumer protection enforcement from federal and local regulators. They highlight the particular importance of attention to bank compensation practices, including the need to make sure banks are not pushing their employees to harm consumers and break the law by requiring them to meet otherwise unattainable sales goals.”
“At today’s meeting, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will rule on whether derivatives margin rules required by Japanese regulators are comparable to U.S. margin requirements… Japanese margin rules are significantly weaker than U.S. rules in several important areas. These include margin protections in case of the bankruptcy or failure of a foreign counterparty, and the types of non-cash margin accepted. Permitting U.S. firms to operate under these weaker rules would constitute an unacceptable back-door weakening of U.S. margin rules. We are concerned that such a comparability determination would set a precedent for permitting similar weakening in other jurisdictions and in other areas of derivatives oversight.”
“More than 100 U.S. Senators and Representatives are asking the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to move ahead with its efforts to restore the right of consumers to join together to hold corporations accountable when they break the law. In separate House and Senate letters, the lawmakers voice their support for a CFPB proposal that would limit the financial industry’s use of forced arbitration “ripoff clauses,” typically buried in the fine print of take-it-or-leave-it contracts, to block consumers from challenging hidden fees, fraud, and other illegal behavior.”
“AFR hopes that other agencies and private investors recognize the CFPB’s thoughtful recommendations and that the CFPB will remain an active participant in this important conversation.”
The CFPB was created after the 2008 financial crisis to bring basic standards of fairness and transparency to the consumer finance marketplace. Five years later, our organizations join in celebrating the important changes the CFPB has already made, and in eager anticipation of the work to come.
Ninety-six percent of Democrats and 89 percent of Republicans regard financial regulation as important, according to the survey, which was conducted in June by Lake Research Partners and Chesapeake Beach Consulting on behalf of Americans for Financial Reform and the Center for Responsible Lending. Here
Chicago leaders and national organizations joined together to deliver a petition in which over 80,000 Americans asked the SEC to investigate the toxic swap deals squeezing cities and states across the country.
“Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) and many members of our coalition and allies have long pressed for significant changes to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) sales of distressed mortgages so that the program better serves homeowners and communities, and we welcome yesterday’s announcement of a number of promising reforms. “
“Today, Senators Mark Warner and Elizabeth Warren, as well as Congressman Elijah Cummings have introduced an important new piece of legislation that takes a comprehensive approach to addressing failures in oversight of the $500 trillion global derivatives market, and would go far to protect the public against the risks of another disastrous meltdown in critical financial markets.”