Letters to the Regulators: Letter in Support of Revisions to OMB Guidance for Grants and Agreements

The Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (AFREF), the Institute for Policy Studies, Jobs to Move America, Communications Workers of America, United for Respect, and Take on Wall Street wrote a comment letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to recommend it be made explicit – in guidance accompanying the final rule – that local and state officials may take responsible action to consider stock buyback expenditures, exorbitant CEO pay, and private equity-driven leveraged buyouts and drastic cost-cutting when awarding federal funds.

SEC Building

News Release: SEC Must Stand Up to Industry Attacks and Re-Propose Buybacks Rule

The Securities and Exchange Commission should re-propose its rule on disclosures of stock buybacks as soon as possible now that the unreasonably tight deadline for a court-mandated revision of the rule has passed. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, alleging “defects” in a rule designed to bring transparency to stock buybacks, gave the SEC 30 days to revise the rule – an impossibly short time frame it then refused to extend upon the SEC’s request. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit by the Chamber of Commerce.

Letters and Statements: OMB Should Approve Climate Data Call to Equip FIO and Other Financial Regulators with Information on How Climate Change is Affecting Homeowners Insurance Coverage

Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund submitted a comment letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for its approval, without delay, of the Department of the Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office (FIO) final proposed “Climate-Related Financial Risk Data Collection for U.S. Homeowners Multi-Peril Underwriting

A Wall Street street sign

Blog Post: Wall Street Throws the Kitchen Sink at Bank Capital Proposals

We should be clear about the motives of the banks’ strong opposition to the bank capital proposals released by federal regulators on July 27. The proposals will make it harder for bank executives to pursue riskier short-term financial gains and mobilize capital for their own benefit by paying excessive dividends and buying back shares. It is that simple, and any debate that does not include this fact is disingenuous.

Wall Street sign and a stoplight turned red - Photo by Roberto Júnior on Unsplash

Blog Post: Bank Lobbyist Nonsense About Capital Rules

The famously gruff Volcker had no patience for the arguments of the big-bank lobby against higher capital requirements and other regulations just after the 2008 financial crisis. An equally fitting word is “nonsense,” a favorite of Anat Admati, an economist at Stanford University, who has also applied it repeatedly since 2008.

Letters to Regulators: NCUA Budget for 2024-2025 Should Account for Climate-Related Financial Risk to Credit Unions and Consumer Protection Needs

Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund led and submitted a comment letter, to the NCUA on the agency’s draft 2024-2025 budget. The letter was endorsed by Green America, the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, the National Fair Housing Alliance, New York Communities