AFR Comment Letter: Derivatives Exemption Too Broad
AFR submitted a comment letter opposing the CFTC’s overly broad exemption for derivatives traded between bank affiliates.
AFR in the News: Fiduciary Duty Gets “Swiss-cheesed” by House
Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi sees the potential for more Jefferson County-style disasters in H.R. 2827, a “compromise” that sharply reduces the ethical responsibilities of those who sell complex financial products to municipalities.
American Banksters
For those who have forgotten (or never fully understood) the tawdry details of the housing bubble and foreclosure epidemic, the Opportunity Agenda breaks it all down in “American Banksters.” This three-minute video aims to inspire public activism and help bring pressure upon the presidential candidates
Public Interest Groups Urge Opposition to HR 2827
AFR, The Leadership Conference, AFL-CIO, AFSCME, U.S. PIRG, Public Citizen, and Consumer Federation of America. While this legislation is an improvement on earlier versions of the bill, it still represents a significant weakening of taxpayer protections created by the Dodd-Frank Act to prevent fraud, abuse, and deception in Wall Street financial dealings with municipalities.
AFR Statement on Lehman Anniversary: Have They No Shame?
LEHMAN ANNIVERSARY STATEMENT: HAVE THEY NO SHAME? That’s a question that Americans should be asking about the Wall Street lobbyists and their friends in Washington who, on this fourth anniversary of the event that triggered the economic meltdown of 2008-09, are mounting an aggressive new
Cost of the Crisis: Taking Stock on the Fourth Anniversary of the Financial Meltdown
Four years after the Lehman collapse, a new AFR Briefing Paper surveys the damage .
AFR in the News: Senators Want to Empower White House to Block “Costly” Financial Regulations
Imagine a world where banks can appeal to the highest office in the land for help if some pesky financial regulator tries to tell them what to do… In fact, there is a bill slouching its way through the Senate right now that would give the president of the United States the power to slam the brakes on new regulations that banks find insufficiently lenient…
AFR in the News: Lawmakers Push to Increase White House Oversight of Financial Regulators
A Senate committee may be preparing to approve a bill to impose White House cost-benefit review on a group of formerly independent regulatory agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
AFR Comment Letter to CFPB on High Cost Mortgage Loans
AFR submitted a comment letter to the CFPB on their proposed rules implementing Dodd-Frank changes regarding high cost mortgage loans. The letter argues against changing triggers for high cost loans for smaller loans which the statute allows but does not require, and argues that the proposal should be strengthened in various ways, including by making sure that borrowers in revolving lines of credit get the same protections as those in closed end mortgages.
More than 50 Organizations and Individuals Sign Letter of Opposition to S. 3468
AFR joined more than 50 organizations and individuals in signing onto a letter opposing S. 3468. The Independent Regulatory Analysis Act (S.3468) is a far-ranging proposal that would create major changes and lead to significant delays in the work of independent agencies. As all the major financial regulatory agencies are independent agencies this would have a profound effect on the progress of financial reform at agencies ranging from the Federal Reserve to the Securities and Exchange Commission.