The explosion of low-quality lending has brought debt loads in corporate America to record highs, a development that is likely to bring, in the coming years, a wave of defaults, slower growth, future job losses, and potential instability stemming from the utter opacity of this business. Despite the exponential growth in subprime corporate debt, our laws and regulations have not kept up, leaving policymakers and regulators in the dark as to the exact size of this market and where various risks may exist that could affect other financial institutions, companies, and their workers.
Washington, D.C. — The Federal Reserve and other banking regulators made the right call Tuesday by issuing a warning regarding the risks that crypto-assets pose to banking organizations. There is widespread volatility, fraud risk, legal uncertainties, unfair and deceptive practices, run and contagion risks, high levels of concentration and interconnections between firms, and poor risk management and governance found throughout the industry – all of which spells danger for investors and consumers alike.
Washington, D.C. – The record Consumer Financial Protection Bureau settlement with Wells Fargo over widespread wrongdoing in providing auto loans, mortgages, and deposit accounts represents an opportunity for all federal regulators to force durable change at the oft-penalized megabank.
Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island today warned that a recent court decision in the Fifth Circuit, though aimed at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, also threatens the funding stream of the Federal Reserve that underpins its independence from politics.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Private equity billionaires would be among the big winners from a corporate lobbying push in Congress to reap a windfall from a retroactive tax break in the omnibus bill now being crafted. Lobbyists and their many allies in Congress are trying to repeal new restrictions that took effect this year that limit how much corporations can deduct in interest payments on their debt.
Today, a broad coalition of financial services and consumer organizations expressed support for new legislation to close the industrial loan company (ILC) charter loophole, the “Close the Shadow Banking Loophole Act.” The legislation, introduced by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), prohibits shadow banks and nonbank commercial entities from taking advantage of legal loopholes. These loopholes allow these companies to control a full-service FDIC-insured depository institution without being subject to the comprehensive set of rules designed to keep the financial system safe.
