This proposal is no minor set of technical tweaks to the Volcker Rule, but an attempt to unravel fundamental elements of the response to the 2008 financial crisis, when banks financed their gambling with taxpayer-insured deposits. If implemented, these proposals could turn the Volcker Rule into a dead letter, a regulation that would not meaningfully restrict trading activities.
The need for strong public interest nominees is even greater today. This Administration has been
filling key regulatory positions with people pursuing Wall Street’s agenda at the public’s expense,
and the revolving door is spinning faster than ever. There is an enormous amount at stake at both
the SEC and FDIC as the financial industry and their friends in the Trump administration work to
undo the progress made in Dodd-Frank and to undermine key investor protection standards.
This legislation ignores the lessons of the financial crisis that cost so many Americans their jobs and homes, and pays no heed to the overwhelming majority of voters who correctly understand the need for tougher, not weaker, oversight of the financial services industry.
For its Head of Consumer Protection, the FTC chose a lawyer, Andrew Smith, who worked for both payday lenders and Equifax. The FTC needs a someone with a record of consumer protection, not yet another industry lawyer
“Congress has done the right thing in allowing the rule to stand. Now the spotlight is on Mick Mulvaney. Will he move ahead on his plans to unravel it, and continue to cater to the payday lenders who gave generously to his campaigns?” said Lisa Donner, executive director at AFR.
“What Mulvaney is really interested in is not serious research, but information that advances the interests of the Wall Street banks and predatory lenders he serves.”