“We are disappointed that a single Federal district court judge has overturned the decision of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), which voted 9-1 to designate Metlife for additional Federal Reserve oversight. “
“We join with the advocates, lawmakers, and law enforcement officials who have all called on the Department use its legal authority to discharge debts of students covered by the Department’s enforcement actions without further delay and without requiring each borrower to make an individual application.”
“AFR sent a letter to banking regulators today concerning their review of bank resolution plans. The Dodd-Frank Act requires regulators to review these plans to ensure that major banks are no longer ‘too big to fail’ – that they can go through a conventional (Chapter 11) private bankruptcy in an orderly manner, without creating substantial economic disruption. “
“Again and again, activist hedge funds have used sneak attacks to accumulate large stakes in public companies and then cashed out quickly at the expense of workers, communities, and the long-term viability of the company itself. The Brokaw Act is a sensible and badly needed response to this problem. With the introduction of their bill, Senators Baldwin and Merkley have struck an important blow against the immediate-profits-at-all-costs mentality that has become such a huge obstacle to long-term investment in our country.”
In the audience at the House Financial Services Committee’s semi-annual CFPB review hearing this morning, you’ll see a delegation of community leaders and consumer advocates from around the country wearing lime-green t-shirts and signs that say, “The CFPB Has Our Back.”
“Nearly six years after Dodd Frank’s enactment, key oversight agencies (including the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission) have still not completed crucial rules mandated by the law. These include measures deeply related to the causes of the financial crisis…”
“Today the CFTC’s Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee (EEMAC) issued an end-of-year report highly critical of mandated position limits in the energy markets. The CFTC and the public should discount this badly slanted report, and the CFTC should re-examine advisory committee membership to ensure that the public interest is properly represented.”
“It is good that the Department of Education recognizes the depth of the problems of fraud at too many for-profit institutions of higher education, as evidenced by the formation of the Student Aid Enforcement Unit. But hundreds of thousands of borrowers from the now-bankrupt Corinthian Colleges, Inc. remain on the hook for federal student loans, and continue to accrue interest. This is despite the fact that the illegal actions identified in Department enforcement actions against certain Corinthian schools were endemic throughout the entire chain.”
“It is disappointing that the Commission has not already taken such steps. But a call from the people and the State of Illinois could and should spur the SEC to action to recover for the public big-bank gains that resulted from violations of their obligations to do business in a fair and transparent way with these public-sector clients. “
In his final State of the Union address, President Obama reminded the nation that “food stamp recipients didn’t cause the financial crisis; Wall Street recklessness did.” While he did not linger on the subject, the totality of his remarks made a strong case for measures to make the financial system safer and fairer. We agree about the need for such measures, and we laud the progress that has already been made. But, as we enter the final year of this administration, there is more that needs to be done.