Banking has changed a lot since 1977, but CRA regulations have not been meaningfully updated in three decades. In 2023, the banking regulators modernized the old brick and mortar banking rules for the modern era and strengthened CRA performance evaluations. Under new Trump-appointed leadership, regulators are now inexplicably walking away from these improvements.
The Senate approved the nomination of Paul Atkins to serve as Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on a partisan vote putting a deeply flawed nominee in office at a time of great market turmoil that could threaten investors, retirees and pensions, equity markets, and the broader economy.
The House majority today chose to give Wall Street banks free reign to charge outrageous overdraft junk fees and to abandon oversight of payment apps run by Big Tech and Elon Musk. Along partisan lines, the House voted to roll back two popular safeguards created by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Already passed by the Senate, the measures now go to President Trump to be signed into law.
The #HandsOff demonstrations on April 5 included many different people, organizations, and causes, all united in an effort to stop the Trump administration’s destruction of the federal government and American democracy. Americans for Financial Reform was among the groups that supported the effort, with a particular focus on one subject: “Hands Off Our CFPB.”
Public Citizen and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund submitted a comment to the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) on its proposal to evaluate nonbank mortgage lenders in New York based on their performance in meeting the credit needs of the communities where they operate, including needs related to increasing climate risks on housing
Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (AFREF) submitted a comment letter supporting a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) to provide relief to victims of coerced debt
Today, American Economic Liberties Project, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and Public Citizen sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) urging them to block the proposed Capital One-Discover merger under federal antitrust and banking statutes.
At a time when far-right forces are literally dismantling the government, including stripping away most agencies’ regulatory and oversight capacity, further deregulation of the financial system would be a dangerous mistake that would help advance the far-right’s democracy-grab. The House and Senate Republicans are advancing so-called capital formation legislation that purports to be about helping companies raise capital but are really about undermining investor protections and exposing small investors—read people’s retirement and life savings—to the riskiest parts of the financial system.
Americans for Financial Reform and seven other public interest organizations submitted a letter urging U.S. Senators to oppose the nomination of Jonathan V. Gould to serve as Comptroller of the Currency.
The House Financial Services Committee today approved a massive giveaway to the cryptocurrency industry with a bill on stablecoins that lacks basic fraud and consumer safeguards and does nothing to address the corrupt crypto business deals that the Trump family is now pursuing. It also approved a bill to gut small business and farm lending transparency requirements under Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act.