“[T]he Senate cabal has masked their handout by claiming to focus on relief for small community banks… [But] the proposal ‘includes over a dozen measures that would ease rules on banks, and a few minor changes for consumers that ought to be a given,’ said Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform, the main pro-regulatory advocacy group in D.C.”
AFR sent a letter opposing a dozen different deregulatory bills being marked up by the House Financial Services Committee. AFR Letter Re HFSC 11-14 Markup
Congress ought to be passing robust new consumer protections, not doing favors for banks. Annual industry earnings by banks set a new record in 2016, and community banks saw even faster growth than big banks. Over 95 percent of community banks turned a profit last year.
The hack may even have been a boon to the bottom line of credit reporting companies, which charge consumers to freeze their credit report or monitor their credit, even though consumers are seeking these protections due to this massive breach.
But the question is, what will Congress do after a hearing on data breaches? Will they act to restore our right to control information about our own lives, and protect our privacy, or will they let Equifax and other data brokers turn the problems they caused into an excuse for undermining existing state laws with a sham weaker federal standard that replaces them? Will they restrict access to the courts?
The Take on Wall Street campaign denounced the proposed tax bills for effectively preserving the carried interest loophole for Wall Street money managers, a loophole Trump promised to close during the campaign trail.
AFR sent an opposition letter to HR 2148, which would have put loopholes in new rules designed to ensure that banks did not make excessively risky commercial real estate loans. HR 2148 Oppo letter
AFR sent an opposition letter to HR 3911, which would make currently mandatory inspections of national registered credit ratings agenices (NRSROs) such as Moody’s and Standard and Poors optional. HR 3911 Oppo letter
AFR sent a statement on a House Financial Services Committee hearing reviewing three bills. AFR Statement on 11-3 HFSC Hearing
The Take on Wall Street campaign denounces the just-unveiled tax bill as a giant giveaway to an industry whose reckless behavior led to a searing recession from which many Americans have not yet recovered.