Letters to Regulators: Response to Request for Comment on Proposed Changes to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice

AFREF joined civil rights and consumer advocacy organizations in responding to the Appraisal Standards Board’s request for comment on the proposed changes to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice that would add nondiscrimination language to USPAP’s Ethics Rule. The letter recognizes the history and persistence of racial discrimination in appraisals and makes several specific recommendations for fighting discrimination in the appraisal process.

In The News: Convenience has consequences (Politico)

“If big banks are going to compare themselves to the worst offenders in payments, then they are already losing the argument,” said Renita Marcellin, senior policy analyst at Americans for Financial Reform. “Their entire argument is built around trying to distract us from their responsibility for fraud in services that they themselves offer their own customers,” she added.

Blog: Hedge Funds and Labor Are Not Bedfellows

Two SEC proposals have billionaire activist hedge funds up in arms and pulling out all the stops—including falsely claiming organized labor is opposed to the important proposals.  Industry opponents will showcase their disdain at an upcoming Investor Advisory Committee (IAC) meeting scheduled for Sept. 21.

In The News: Explainer: What to know about ‘buy now, pay later’ (Associated Press)

Elyse Hicks, consumer policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform, a progressive nonprofit, said people may not consider seriously enough whether they’ll still be able to afford payments down the road. “Because of inflation, people may think, ‘I’m going to have to get what I need and pay for it later in these installments,’” she said. “But are you still going to be able to afford the things you’re affording now six months from now?”

News Release: New Scorecard Shows Private Equity’s Race to the Bottom on Climate

The Carlyle Group, Warburg Pincus, and KKR are the top three offenders on climate among private equity firms, continuing to invest in polluting industries and exposing investors to significant climate-related risk, according to a new scorecard developed by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (AFREF). 

In The News: Private equity still investing billions in dirty energy despite pledge to clean up (The Guardian)

Carlyle is rated F, the lowest in the climate credentials scorecard that has been created by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (Pesp) and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (Afref). “The scorecard provides important information and analysis that can help investors and communities understand what these firms are doing, and makes very clear that the firm’s climate commitments are largely empty words,” said Oscar Valdes Viera, research manager at Afref and co-author of the climate risks scorecard.

SEC Building

Letters to Regulators: Letter to the SEC in Support of its Proposal on Shareholder Proposals

AFREF and allies submitted a comment letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission in support of its proposal to update certain substantive bases for exclusion of shareholder proposals. Shareholder proposals are an important part of our corporate governance system, and in the letter, we encourage the Commission to ensure the full range of benefits of shareholder proposals are taken into consideration when finalizing the rule, including shareholder proposals’ role in identifying, raising awareness, and addressing both company-level and systemic risks.