Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (AFREF) submitted two comments to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in response to their request for information on climate-related financial risk as pertinent to the derivatives markets and underlying commodities markets. A coalition letter submitted jointly by AFREF, Amazon Watch,
“Private equity firms have a long track record of being extractive — that is, extracting wealth from their portfolio companies,” said Carter Dougherty, spokesman for the Americans for Financial Reform, which advocates for regulation of private equity. “When you see Cerberus shaking $4 billion out of a company in a difficult industry like groceries, it’s not out of bounds to say this is yet another episode of industry abuses.”
AFREF sent comments calling on the Federal Home Loan Banks to substantially increase funding for the Affordable Housing Program, and enact executive compensation reform if the banking system is going to continue to benefit from significant public subsidies.
AFREF joined experts in the field in submitting comments calling on the FHFA Office of Financial Technology to ensure that new applications of fintech to housing finance do not violate consumer protections or fair housing violations. Specific recommendations are made to avoid algorithmic bias and e-signature fraud, along with a general principle of caution when approving new fintech practices.
“A CBDC format that has Big Tech running the back end is just another backdoor way for them to encroach on financial services,” says Mark Hays, a senior policy analyst with Americans for Financial Reform, a policy advocacy group that has been skeptical of CBDCs.
Remarks and Q&A with prominent legal experts on the extreme attempt by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn CFPB’s payday lending rule and destroy the funding mechanism Congress created for the agency, a step that threatens to unleash chaos in consumer finance markets and inhibit the agency’s work in protecting consumers.
Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity owner of Albertsons grocery stores, is quickly moving to extract an unusually large amount of money from the grocer that would leave Albertsons in a much worse position to repay the massive debt load put on by its private equity owners. This move puts many of Albertsons’ workers and their pensions at risk.
AFREF joined a letter calling on HUD to increase the affordability of FHA insurance mortgages by lowering the FHA Mortgage Insurance Premium by 25 to 35 basis points and ending the life of loan requirement on the FHA Mortgage Insurance Premiums.