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Consumers Union Letter on CFPB Commission

The recently introduced Responsible Consumer Financial Protection Regulation Act, H.R. 1121, aims to create a five- member commission to carry out the duties of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Consumers Union, the nonprofit publishers of Consumer Reports®, respectfully disagrees with this proposed change to the CFPB’s structure and strongly supports a single director as the most efficient and effective way to run the CFPB.

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Protect the CFPB: Fact Sheet

AFR submitted a comment on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed rule for Swaps Execution Facilities (SEFs). The Dodd-Frank Act gives the SEC authority over the trading of security-based swaps, such as the credit
default swaps that brought down AIG and helped trigger the financial crisis. The AFR comment criticized the proposal for not following the expressed intent of Congress that cleared security-based swaps be traded on open exchanges with transparent and competitive pricing. The current SEC rule would permit the continuation of swaps trading in opaque bilateral transactions. This type of trading helps big swaps dealers but is harmful to derivatives users and could increase systemic instability.

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SEC-CFTC Funding Letter

April 5th, 2011 Dear Member of Congress, On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we urge you to support full funding for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Anything less would deprive these agencies of the basic resources they

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Durbin Amendment will help consumers

Durbin Amendment will help consumers Brad Griffin and Ronna Alexander (Helena-IR Your Turn – MT) April 1, 2011 “First, there are indeed many constituencies involved in the debate; in addition to “retailers,” many groups seek to have the rules implemented and not delayed as Sen.

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AFR Supports 953(b) – Calls for Disclosure of Executive Compensation

AFR wrote a comment letter supporting the requirement in Section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Act that companies disclose to investors the ratio of CEO pay to the compensation of the typical employee at the company. Existing requirements mandate disclosure of top executive compensation only, encouraging companies to focus unduly on peer to peer comparisons when setting CEO pay. Disclosure of CEO-to-worker pay ratios will encourage Boards of Directors to also consider pay equity within firms, top-to-bottom and not just at the CEO level. This information will also be useful to investors who prioritize pay equity as part of their investment decision. Rep. Nan Hayworth (NY) has introduced a bill to repeal this section of Dodd-Frank.