Americans for Financial Reform

Explore the Regulatory Frontier of Shadow Banking, with Bair, Tarullo, Lawsky & Others

Commercial banks – the traditional focus of financial regulation – no longer stand at the center of the financial system. Broker-dealers, money market funds, asset managers, and insurance companies have become key actors, with the potential to shake the stability of the whole economy. Join prominent experts, reform advocates, and regulators for a discussion of the “shadow banking” system of market-mediated credit and the steps needed to integrate it into a safer and more sustainable financial system.

AFR in the News: Obama Nominates Senior Treasury Official to Lead CFTC

“The CFTC is at an important crossroads,” the Washington Post observes. “The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act directed the agency, with 674 employees and a $194 million budget, to oversee a $400 trillion piece of the unregulated derivatives market, a key contributor to the financial crisis. The CFTC has almost finished writing the rules mandated by the law and must now get Wall Street to comply.”

AFR Statement on Nomination of Tim Massad to Chair the CFTC

“Assistant Secretary Massad has not, in his previous work, been required to address the issues the CFTC is responsible for. It is not clear from what we know whether he is the right person for the job. There needs to be a serious inquiry into his views and perspectives as part of the consideration of his confirmation.”

AFR in the News: When Lobbyists Literally Write the Bill

The House of Representatives recently voted to roll back a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act that, as reporter Ailsa Chang explained on All Things Considered (NPR, 11/11/13), “prevents banks from using your deposits to trade in derivatives — risky securities that many believe contributed to

An Unfinished Mission: Making Wall Street Work for All of Us

“We should not accept a financial system that allows the biggest banks to emerge from a crisis in record-setting shape while working Americans continue to struggle.” – Senator Elizabeth Warren speaking at the launch event for a new AFR/Roosevelt Institute report on the state of financial reform.

AFR Statement on Senate Vote to Filibuster Mel Watt Nomination

On Oct. 31, the Senate voted to filibuster the nomination of Representative Mel Watt as Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. This was an appalling vote on several levels. In the first place, the 46 Senators who said No to cloture were using

AFR in the News: House Is Seen as Wall Street’s Ally

“’The House is the odd man out in terms of doing Wall Street’s bidding,” says AFR policy director Marcus Stanley. “They’re letting Wall Street write the law to its own benefit in ways that harm the public.”

Federal Regulators Urged to Crack Down on Bank Complicity in Illegal Payday Loans

AFR joined the National Consumer Law Center, Consumer Federation of America, the Center for Responsible Lending, and 26 other consumer and civil rights groups call for stronger measures to stop banks and payment processors from helping internet and tribal payday lenders collect illegal payments from consumers’ bank accounts.

House-Passed Bill Would Roll Back Derivatives Reform

The House vote to approve this legislation, largely written by Citibank lobbyists, reminds us that Wall Street is still doing everything in its power to protect the status quo that caused the financial crisis… The good news is that 122 House members voted No this time. What started out as a backroom deal between bank lobbyists and legislators wound up being an uncomfortable vote for the dealmakers. That makes it much less likely that the Senate will act, and more likely that the swaps push out provision will finally be implemented.

AFR Policy Director Marcus Stanley Argues for Smaller, Simpler Finance at Industry Event

AFR Policy Director Marcus Stanley participates in debate on ‘Smaller, Simpler Banks’ with Rodgin Cohen (Chair of Sullivan and Cromwell), John Dugan (former Comptroller of the Currency), and Randall Kroszner (University of Chicago; former Governor on the Federal Reserve Board). The debate was sponsored by the International Institute of Finance. As the only public interest representative at the debate, Dr. Stanley defending the need for simplifying and shrinking big banks.