Category Archives: Press Releases

News Release: Changes to Disclosures Will Increase Visibility in some Private Fund Activities

Washington, D.C. – The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) expansions to the information collected by private funds over Form PF and Form CPO will provide both the agencies and the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) with greater visibility and early warning signs into portions of the $21 trillion private fund industry. 

News Release: Action Need to Curb Private Equity Gambling with Life Insurance

The private equity push into the life insurance business demands a robust state and federal policy response to curb the emerging risks created when a notoriously predatory industry seeks control of the vast quantities of money generated by premium-paying policyholders, according to a new report from Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund.

CFPB

News Release: As Supreme Court Considers Argument to Defang the Watchdog, a New Poll Shows Wide, Bipartisan Support for CFPB

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following oral arguments made before the U.S. Supreme Court on the future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a new poll – commissioned by the Center for Responsible Lending and Americans for Financial Reform and released today – shows overwhelming support from Republican, Democratic, and independent voters for the CFPB’s mission and for the Bureau to establish several new consumer protections.

News Release: Antitrust Agencies Must Boost Scrutiny of Private Equity Buyouts

New merger guidelines should confront the powerful and often insidious role played by Wall Street private equity in fostering monopolization across the American economy, according to a letter submitted by Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund. The letter, sent to the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, outlines concrete steps that authorities can take to combat the anti-competitive influence that private equity buyouts have had on industries as diverse as health care, retailing, fast food, and automotive services.

Media Conversation with Legal Experts to Preview Upcoming CFPB v. CFSA, at Supreme Court

Washington, D.C. – On Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 2 pm ET, Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), the Constitutional Accountability Center, and the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) will host a press call to preview one of the most important cases coming before the Supreme Court this term: CFPB v CFSA, a constitutional challenge to the funding structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Sign up for the call at this link.

News Release: Affirmation of DOJ Role in Bank Mergers a Welcome Change

Washington, D.C. – The announcement by Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter that the Department of Justice is willing to block bank mergers even after they have been approved by their primary regulators represents a welcome sea change after decades in which government authorities waved through consolidation in this industry.

News Release: Famous Last Words – What the Bank CEOs Told Congress in 2018 to Get Deregulation

As the former CEOs of failed banks prepare to testify before Congress, consider the self-serving statements that bank executives, lobbyists and lawmakers uttered to grease passage of banking deregulation legislation in 2018. “SVB, like our mid-sized bank peers, does not present systemic risks,” Greg Becker, the CEO of Silicon Valley Bank insisted, about five years before federal authorities declared his bank a systemic risk.

CFPB

News Release: CFPB Proposed Rule will Bring Accountability for Financial Corporations

Washington, D.C.  — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed rulemaking to require that regulated nonbank entities annually register with the CFPB regarding their use of specific terms and conditions in form contracts for consumer financial products and services, will reinforce the agency’s ongoing efforts to bring transparency and accountability on how financial industries operate, according to Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund and consumer coalition advocates.