AFR Comment Letter: AFR calls on CFTC to Require Margin for Derivatives
AFR calls on CFTC to require margin for derivatives.
Category Archives: Letters to Regulators
AFR Letter: Mandatory Margin Requirements Needed for Uncleared Swaps
“Mandatory margin requires participants in the swaps market to take full account of the risks of their derivatives transactions and provide some level of advance provisioning for such risks. The availability of properly segregated margin is clearly of enormous value in case of the default of a swaps counterparty.”
AFR Letter: CFTC and SEC Must Act Against Derivatives “De-Guaranteeing” Ploy
“On behalf of Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), we write today to ask you to ensure appropriate regulatory oversight of derivatives transactions conducted through foreign subsidiaries of multinational Wall Street banks. In particular, we urge you to prevent the inappropriate classification of such derivatives as ‘non-guaranteed’ by the parent company, a classification which could exempt them from numerous critical derivatives regulations.”
AFR Joins More than 200 Other Groups in Urging FHFA Director Mel Watt to Reverse Fannie-Freddie Policy on Principal Reduction
Mel Watt is being urged again to end the policy of prohibiting mortgage modifications that reduce the balance of principal. In a joint letter delivered today, more than 200 housing, community, labor, civil rights and consumer groups call on Watt to reverse the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s longstanding ban on principal reduction – a policy put in place by his predecessor.
AFR and more than 540 Groups Urge CFPB to Stop the Payday Loan Debt Trap
AFR was joined by 546 civil rights, consumer, labor, faith and community organizations from all 50 states in a letter urging the CFPB to put in place strong rules that will end abusive practices in ‘quick fix’ consumer lending such as payday, auto-title and installment loans.
AFR and More Than 50 U.S. and International Groups Warn that TTIP Could Undermine Financial Reform
In a letter to U.S. and EU trade negotiators and finance ministers, more than 50 civil society groups on both sides of the Atlantic have come together to warn that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) currently under discussion could undermine new financial regulations and potentially create significant risks to the global financial system, as well as to investors and consumers.
AFR and 47 Organizations Support CFPB’s Proposal to Publish Consumer Complaint Details
AFR joined 47 organizations in supporting the CFPB’s work to make its complaint database public and accessible by consumers. This will help consumers make more informed decisions about how to choose the best products and services for their needs, and how to protect themselves from problems.
AFR Calls for Restrictions on Wall Street Executive Pay and Bonuses
AFR submitted a comment letter to federal regulators urging that they impose strong restrictions on Wall Street executive pay and bonuses to ensure that they do not create incentives to take inappropriate short-term risks. This should be made a critical priority, given the role of pay in creating the incentives that led to the 2008 financial crisis.
AFR Comment Letter to CFPB on Request for Input on Mobile Financial Services
AFR offered comments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in response to their Request for Input on how consumers are using mobile financial services to access products and services, and manage finances. While mobile technology can enhance access to safer and more affordable technology for consumers, benefits will only be seen if technological systems are safe, fair, and honest. Regulators can help consumers—as well as those in industry—by establishing strong minimum standards.
AFR Comment Letter to FHFA on Request for Input Around Raising Guarantee Fees
AFR offered comments to the Federal Housing Finance Agency in response to their Request for Input related to g-fee policy and implementation. AFR encouraged FHFA to refrain from instituting any increases in g-fees or loan-level price adjustments (LLPAs) at this time.