AFREF and 23 signatories submitted a comment letter calling on the Treasury Department and the IRS to finalize a rule implementing the 1% stock buybacks excise tax with strong anti-avoidance provisions.
AFREF and 11 organizations submitted a comment letter to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) in support of a proposal to require public accounting firms to publicly report specified firm- and engagement-level metrics. If finalized, these metrics would provide investors, audit committees, and other stakeholders critical information to compare audit firms, make better-informed decisions, and enhance auditor accountability.
AFREF and 96 organizations and individuals concerned about the harmful impacts of transactions that affect consolidation in health care submitted comments responding to a Request For Information from the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, and Department of Health & Human Services, calling for action to curb the abuses of private equity and safeguard the ability of doctors to deliver quality care to all patients and achieve equitable health outcomes.
AFREF submitted its own comment in response to a Request For Information from the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, and Department of Health & Human Services. The comment focuses on transactions by private equity (PE) funds which, by treating health care facilities and companies as financial instruments, have inflicted damage on health care businesses, communities, and individuals.
AFREF submitted a second brief with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Reserve calling on the banking regulators to reject the proposed Capital One-Discover merger. The proposed Capital One-Discover merger would have significant anti-competitive impacts that would harm consumers and communities. The merger also fails to meet the requirements and conditions of the Bank Merger Act and Bank Holding Company Act. It fails to meet the convenience and needs of communities by raising consumer credit card costs, having a record of misleading marketing and aggressive debt collection, and closing two-thirds of its branches over the past 15 years.
AFREF and more than thirty allied organizations signed onto a letter calling for the banking agencies to finalize strong bank regulatory capital proposals. These are urgently needed to increase the large banks’ safety and soundness, strengthen financial system stability, and preserve ordinary people’s access to financial services.
AFREF and Public Citizen led a coalition letter urging the six relevant agencies to implement section 956 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires them to promulgate a rule banning incentive-based executive pay that incentivizes inappropriate risk-taking. A year after the 2023 banking crisis — and almost fourteen years after the statutory mandate was enacted — we do not have a rule to protect consumers, depositors, and the public from executives’ excessive risk-taking.
AFR joined the Consumer Federation of America and 18 other civil rights, housing, and climate advocacy groups in writing this letter to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners regarding the need for a public, transparent, and national data collection on the property and casualty insurance market.
AFR-EF joined with the FACT Coalition and 35 organizations committed to affordable housing to support the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the United States (U.S.) Department of the Treasury (Treasury)’s notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to establish anti-money laundering regulations for certain residential real estate transfers. Aspiring homebuyers and renters alike simply should not be forced to compete with anonymous entities – including those concealing criminal or other abusive activity – for limited affordable housing options at ever-inflated prices.
AFREF wrote a letter in opposition to the proposed Capital One Financial Corporation acquisition of Discover Financial Services, which would substantially erode competition and disadvantage consumers and merchants. The transaction would create the nation’s biggest credit card lender, one of the biggest banks, and a powerful vertically integrated payments network combined with a branch bank and credit card issuer.