Americans for Financial Reform

AFR in the News: Main Street Banks Play the Wall Street Lobbying Game (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

“PNC, the nation’s 10th largest bank, hasn’t spent the past few years just building itself into a financial behemoth. Like many other banks, it’s built up political capital too. And last year, it spent some of that currency to help roll back a regulation [that] barred banks with federally insured deposits from engaging in certain potentially high-risk financial transactions… Swaps have legitimate uses, but ‘when things go wrong in this area, they go very very wrong,’ said Marcus Stanley [of] Americans for Financial Reform.”

AFR in the News: Kicking Dodd-Frank in the Teeth (NY Times)

“We’re going to see repeated attempts to go in with seemingly technical changes that intimidate regulators and keep them from putting teeth in regulations,” predicted Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform… “If we return to the precrisis business as usual, where it’s routine for people to accommodate Wall Street on these technical changes, they’re just going to unravel the postcrisis regulation piece by piece.”

AFR Letter: Oppose Regulatory Rollback in HR 26 (TRIA)

AFR sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to reject HR 26, the “Terrorism Risk Insurance Act.” This legislation contains the inclusion of an irrelevant provision that would weaken financial regulatory protections by banning the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from any oversight of margin and collateral for derivatives transactions with commercial end users.

AFR Letter: Preserve Financial Protections, Oppose HR 37

AFR sent a letter to members of Congress, urging them to oppose HR 37, “Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens Act.” This legislation includes numerous changes that could have significant negative impacts on regulators ability to police the financial markets so that they function safely and transparently.

AFR in the News: Pay-Disclosure Advocates Chafe at SEC Rule Delays (MarketWatch)

Supporters of a rule that would require public companies to disclose the ratio between executive and median employee pay say the Securities and Exchange Commission should move soon to enact the regulation. “It’s one of the simplest, most straightforward Dodd-Frank rules,” said Marcus Stanley, policy director of Americans for Financial Reform.

AFR in the News: Banks Win More Time to Sell Private Equity Stakes (USA Today)

Americans for Financial Reform… called the Fed action disappointing and said it “raises serious questions about regulators’ intentions to properly enforce the Volcker Rule.” “Since proprietary trading can occur through the mechanism of external funds, the delay in divestment requirements for covered funds will greatly weaken the enforcement of other crucial parts of the Volcker Rule as well,” the organization said.

AFR in the News: Payday Lenders Throw Millions at Powerful Politicians to Get Their Way (CNN)

Since the beginning of 2013, high-cost loan providers and those with ties to the industry have spent more than $13 million on lobbying and campaign donations to at least 50 lawmakers, according to a new report from the nonprofit Americans for Financial Reform. Recipients include big names on both sides of the aisle…

Payday Pay-to-Play: How High-Cost Lenders Line the Pockets of Powerful Washington Politicians

A new report from Americans for Financial Reform finds that payday, car title and installment lenders have spent more than $13 million in campaign contributions and lobbying during the 2014 election cycle. The Online Lenders Alliance (OLA) and Community Financial Services Association (CFSA) led the way, with combined

AFR Statement on Federal Reserve Delay of Volcker Rule Implementation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 18, 2014 Contact: Marcus Stanley marcus@ourfinancialsecurity.org 202-466-3672 AFR STATEMENT ON FEDERAL RESERVE DELAY OF VOLCKER RULE IMPLEMENTATION Today, the Federal Reserve announced that it would delay the effective implementation of a crucial part of the Volcker Rule for

AFR in the News: Massive Bill’s Reform Deficit (Scranton Times)

“[As] part of a $1.1 trillion compromise to continue running the government that Congress passed over the weekend, [a] crucial Dodd-Frank reform effectively was repealed. Big investment banks once again will be able to use federally insured deposits and other public protections to throw the dice on lightly regulated derivatives — private profit, public risk.. [I]n Washington, money not only talks, it writes the law.”