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AFR in the News: A bipartisan push to bring back bank bailouts

“Advocates on the left, however, are adamant that the ban remain in place, arguing that it forces banks to put up greater collateral to back up risky bets. ‘It is a form of firewall between swaps dealing and the rest of your operations, requiring separate capitalization,’ says Marcus Stanley, policy director of Americans for Financial Reform. ‘When you allow banks to do absolutely unlimited derivatives activities, it’s hard to separate banking from speculation.'”

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AFR in the News: House Panel Approves Bill to Exempt New Firms From Pay Votes

“On Feb. 16, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee voted overwhelmingly to approve a bill that would exempt newly public companies from holding say-on-pay votes for five years. …Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), a coalition of consumer and investor groups that includes the AFL-CIO, has urged the Senate Banking Committee to reject the emerging company legislation. The coalition criticized the auditor attestation exemption and noted that say-on-pay votes have nothing to do with eliminating barriers to new IPOs.”

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AFR in the News: Opening Up the Fed

“Fed board members and staff members apparently met with JPMorgan Chase 16 times, Bank of America 10 times, Goldman Sachs nine times, Barclays seven times and Morgan Stanley seven times (as depicted in a chart that accompanies the Wall Street Journal article). How many meetings does a single company need on one specific issue? How many would you get? For example, Americans for Financial Reform, an organization that describes itself as ‘fighting for a banking and financial system based on accountability, fairness and security,’ met with senior Federal Reserve officials only three times on the Volcker Rule.”

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AFR Press Statement: CFPB Inquiry into Overdraft Practices a Welcome Step

AFR welcomes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s newly announced inquiry into overdraft fees, their impact on consumers, and in particular the Bureau’s focus on check re-ordering, and misleading or confusing marketing of so-called “standard” overdraft protection, a product deemed so abusive that regulators now require a consumer’s affirmative consent or “opt-in”.