JPMorgan Builds Vast Web of Staff, Financial Ties to Lawmakers American Banker By Kevin Wack JUN 12, 2012 Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform, which is often on the opposite side of the policy debate from JPMorgan, nonetheless expressed an upbeat view about
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 7, 2012 CONTACT: Erin Kilroy at 202-466-1885 erin@ourfinancialsecurity.org AFR Statement on ReFund Transit Coalition’s Swaps Report, “Riding the Gravy Train” Washington DC – This report does a valuable service in documenting $529 million in annual swaps payments being made by
By Carter Dougherty Bloomberg News The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. plans to investigate claims that U.S. banks are offering products resembling so-called payday loans faulted by regulators for taking advantage of lower-income borrowers. “The FDIC is deeply concerned about these continued reports,” Martin Gruenberg, the
AFR sent a letter endorsing S. 3219 “The Federal Reserve Independence Act” The bill mandates that the directors of regional Federal Reserve banks be appointed by the Board of Governors, rather than elected by the banks they supervise. It also bans directors or employees of the Federal Reserve from holding stock in the banks they supervise.
AFR sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to oppose HR 1588, a bill that would preempt state laws with stronger protections for rent-to-own consumers.
AFR signed onto a letter that was sent to the SEC urging them to adopt an investor-friendly approach that protects against the abusive sales practices in the private offering marketplace.
The news has been full of stories of JP Morgan’s unexpected losses on risky derivatives bets. Losses started at $2 billion just a week ago. But now they are clearly in excess of $3 billion, potentially $5 billion, and possibly even more. These losses remind
Huffington Post By Robert Weissman At the time the bill was under consideration, critics (including Public Citizen) suggested the JOBS Act was basically pro-fraud legislation. “The legislation is premised on the dangerous and discredited notion that the way to create jobs is to weaken regulatory
AFR released a statement on the JP Morgan losses, global derivatives regulation, and the speech by Gary Gensler at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA.)
Think Progress By Josh Israel and Adam Peck But in Congress, the Tea Party has toed the line for big banks. Eleven of the 15 have become co-sponsors of H.R. 3461, a top priority for the ABA. According to Americans for Financial Reform, the legislation would “tilt the playing field further