Americans for Financial Reform

National Faith, Community and Labor Leaders Call on FHFA Director Watt to Take Action to Help Homeowners and Communities

“We write to you now on behalf of the millions of families who are still struggling with negative home equity, as well as those who are in danger of losing their homes through foreclosure, and the neighbors and communities hurt by foreclosures around them. The need to swiftly reverse the government sponsored enterprise (GSE) policy on principal reduction remains a major priority for many organizations and community members.”

AFR Opposes Efforts to Make It Easier to Game Stress Tests

AFR sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to oppose the “Federal Reserve Accountability and Transparency Act.” This bill would empower Wall Street to prevent effective Federal Reserve oversight of the nation‟s largest banks.

Nearly 600,000 Americans Ask Senators to Support “21st Century Glass-Steagall Act”

“At the Capitol this afternoon [July 9], Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) received petitions in which nearly 600,000 Americans call for action on the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act. This bipartisan bill, introduced by Senator Warren along with Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and Angus King (I-Maine), would address the problem of Wall Street banks that have become too complicated, too conflicted and too powerful, as well as simply too big.”

AFR and Public Citizen Call on Federal Reserve to Close Loophole in its Proposed Ban on Big Bank Mergers

AFR and Public Citizen submitted a comment letter to the Federal Reserve Board, calling on them to close the loophole in its proposed ban on big bank mergers,

AFR in the News: Wall Street Defends Overseas Swap Trading From U.S. Regulation

““We had been warning for years about this loophole in the CFTC’s cross-border guidance,” Marcus Stanley, policy director for American for Financial Reform, told Bloomberg’s Silla Brush. “Now the CFTC seems to be letting it become an exit-ramp from Dodd-Frank.”

AFR in the News: How Obama Can Rein in Wall Street Without Going Through Congress

“Wall Street’s relentless lobbying campaign pressured regulators to dial down some of the reforms, but the overhaul law still has a lot of strength,” Danielle Douglas writes in the July 3rd Washington Post. Her article goes on to quote AFR policy director Marcus Stanley: “The regulators have the statutory authority,” he says. “The question is whether they are going to use that authority.”

AFR Statement on Final SEC Cross-Border Rule

“Overall, this rule is disappointing. It continues to leave a major gap in regulatory authority regarding the application of U.S. law to foreign subsidiaries of U.S. banks. Specifically, while the rule applies U.S. jurisdiction to cases where a foreign subsidiary’s swap counterparty has legal recourse to the U.S. parent bank for the performance of a specific swap, it does not extend jurisdiction to cases where the parent U.S. bank is implicitly or even explicitly committed to guarantee the subsidiary in general.”

Background on the Financial Stability Oversight Council

The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) is a crucial part of the Dodd-Frank Act, and was created in direct response to weaknesses in our system of financial regulatory oversight revealed by the 2008 financial crisis. Recently questions have been raised concerning FSOC’s powers to designate non-bank financial companies for oversight, and the level of transparency for Council activities. This document reviews the reasons for FSOC’s creation, gives a detailed breakout of the steps in the FSOC designation process, and discusses the issue of FSOC transparency.

AFR in the News: House Passes Bill to Aid Koch Brothers, Deregulate Wall Street

“The bill includes… measures sought by the largest Wall Street banks and the Koch brothers, who control significant financial and energy derivatives operations,” writes Zach Carter of the Huffington Post. “Americans for Financial Reform, the premier policy analysis organization among bank watchdogs, advocated strongly against the bill alongside consumer groups and the AFL-CIO.”

AFR, 60 Organizations Urge FHFA to Help Homeowners with Principal Reduction

Sixty groups, along with Americans for Financial Reform, sent a letter to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt today regarding the use of principal reduction as a loss mitigation strategy.