In The News: Here’s how Congress’ first-ever hearing on DeFi went down (DLNews)

The lone DeFi sceptic on the witness panel, Mark Allen Hays — a senior policy analyst with consumer advocacy group Americans for Financial Reform — agreed that security issues plague DeFi projects. But “the problem goes deeper,” he said, adding that many hacks are inside jobs set up by the founders themselves. These could be addressed by existing rules under US securities regulation, he said, which demands disclosures from regulated entities.

Blog: Powell Should Recuse Himself from Basel Endgame Process

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Powell, you should recuse yourself from the consideration of the Basel III Endgame regulatory capital rule to preserve the integrity of Federal Reserve regulatory decision-making and avoid the appearance of impropriety that would undermine public perception of the central bank’s independence and impartiality. Meeting with big bank CEOs in secret creates the appearance that powerful regulated entities cannot merely influence rulemaking during the public notice and comment period and through their policy arguments, but that they can meet off the record and set regulatory red lines which federal authorities will not cross.  

In The News: The Federal Reserve Is Caving to the Big Banks—Again (The New Republic)

Dimon’s tactic was to argue that inflation—Powell’s foremost worry during the past three years—would get worse if the rule took effect, because banks would have to raise the cost of borrowing to pay for the increase in capital reserves. Mortgages and small-business loans would be smaller. Pensions and college funds would produce lower returns. The price of a soda would increase. But as the nonprofit Americans for Financial Reform noted in a comment on the rule, “Banks could very easily raise their current capital levels by simply retaining more earnings, which are plentiful right now, instead of buying back shares or paying dividends.”

New Poll Shows Voters Across Party Lines Want CFPB Action to Curb Junk Fees, Tame Wall Street

As the focus on the American voter intensifies with the coming election, a new poll released today shows voters across the political spectrum overwhelmingly support the mission of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), financial regulation generally, and a variety of specific CFPB actions, including efforts to limit credit card late fees, reduce overdraft charges, and prohibit medical debt from appearing on credit reports.

News Release: BlackRock & Vanguard Enable Dangerous Amazon Warehouse Working Conditions

BlackRock and Vanguard, the world’s two largest asset managers, voted against a shareholder proposal requesting an independent audit of Amazon’s notoriously dangerous warehouse working conditions for the third year in a row, according to recently-disclosed proxy voting data. This vote reflects a troubling pattern of powerful asset managers using their immense power over public companies to stand in the way of shareholder efforts to force corporate boards and executives to address very real financial risks.

In The News: How Would Federal Medical Debt Policies Impact New Yorkers? (PNS)

Christine Chen Zinner, senior policy counsel for the advocacy group Americans for Financial Reform, said communities of color often have the highest medical debt rates for many reasons. “Black and Latine families are more likely to have jobs without access to health insurance, and so that would drive up medical debt,” Zinner explained. “There’s also been disparate health treatments for these communities.”

the outside exterior of the U.S. Treasury Department building

News Release: New Treasury Rules Pull Back the Curtain on Corporate Landlords and Their Financial Backers That Can No Longer Hide Behind LLCs

The Treasury Department released two new rules requiring the disclosure of real estate ownership transparency that will make it easier to identify corporate real estate backers and crack down on money laundering in the real estate sector. This announcement comes the week after the Department of Justice launched a lawsuit against RealPage for facilitating rent price fixing by corporate landlords, and together represent major back-to-back tenant victories against corporate landlords and their privately-funded financial backers

CFPB

News Release: 160+ Groups Urge Clear Fee Disclosures for Paycheck Advance Apps in Letter to the CFPB

More than 160 consumer, labor, civil rights, faith-based, and community organizations submitted a comment letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in support of its proposed interpretive rule ensuring important legal protections for consumers who use earned wage advance (EWA) or other fintech cash advance products that need to be repaid with the borrower’s next paycheck. The letter calls for clearer cost and fee disclosures for these workplace payday loans. 

In The News: Conservative law’s new superstar has a familiar name: Scalia (Financial Times)

Critics say Scalia is simply riding a political wave. “He latched on to the judiciary at a time when the Republican blockades in the Senate and then the Trump presidency were turning it into a right-wing redoubt and when Wall Street lobbies were opening their wallets to stop good policy aimed at helping investors and consumers,” said Carter Dougherty of Americans for Financial Reform.