We should be clear about the motives of the banks’ strong opposition to the bank capital proposals released by federal regulators on July 27. The proposals will make it harder for bank executives to pursue riskier short-term financial gains and mobilize capital for their own benefit by paying excessive dividends and buying back shares. It is that simple, and any debate that does not include this fact is disingenuous.
The famously gruff Volcker had no patience for the arguments of the big-bank lobby against higher capital requirements and other regulations just after the 2008 financial crisis. An equally fitting word is “nonsense,” a favorite of Anat Admati, an economist at Stanford University, who has also applied it repeatedly since 2008.
Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund led and submitted a comment letter, to the NCUA on the agency’s draft 2024-2025 budget. The letter was endorsed by Green America, the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, the National Fair Housing Alliance, New York Communities
Washington, D.C. – A new survey by a bipartisan set of pollsters, Lake Research Partners and Chesapeake Beach Consulting reveals support for tough regulation of the financial services industry and acute alarm at Wall Street’s move to buy up health care companies.
Washington, D.C. – The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ decision requiring disclosure of nursing home ownership by real estate investment trusts (REIT) and private equity firms is an essential step towards enhancing transparency and accountability in the healthcare industry.
Washington, D.C. — Upcoming reforms to the Federal Home Loan Bank System will provide greater and more equitable public benefits under a detailed roadmap released last week by their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). The welcome reform agenda is the result of national engagement of stakeholders on FHLBanks, for-profit entities that receive significant indirect public subsidies.
Washington, D.C. – More than 100 consumer protection, civil rights and organized labor organizations filed a comment asking the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to create a rule to restore the right of all Americans to decide to file a case in court rather than be forced into arbitration by big banks and other financial services corporations.
View or download a PDF of the letter here. In advance of the Senate and House hearings on the oversight of prudential regulators this week, AFR filed a statement for the record advocating for the Fed, the OCC and the FDIC to finalize key rulemakings,
On November 7th, AFR’s Advocacy and Legislative Director Renita Marcellin testified before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy supporting the Basel Endgame capital proposals. These capital proposals work to build a more resilient financial system and enable banks to better support the
“Banks make it very hard for consumers to choose where they want to go if they’re not happy with services,” Elyse Hicks, a lawyer specializing in consumer policy at the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Americans for Financial Reform, told The Lever and The American Prospect.