“There’s nothing happening to reverse the Trump deregulatory agenda at the Fed or to think about what the Fed ought to be doing on financial regulation,” said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform, an advocacy group that represents unions and civil-rights and consumer groups.
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposals on Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) provide retail investors with much greater investor protections, which is welcome news to AFR, as we have been urging such changes for more than a year.
Washington, D.C. — A broad coalition of bank and credit union associations and consumer organizations submitted a letter today to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services urging passage of the Close the ILC Loophole Act, introduced by Representatives Chuy Garcia (D-IL) and Lance Gooden (R-TX).
“When we talk about the [North Carolina] bathroom bills of 2016 and 2017 compared to now, my first response is, well, they haven’t felt that the public pressure that they would be feeling to do something is worth more than the financial benefit they have from doing nothing,” said Mandla Deskins, an advocacy manager for Take on Wall Street, an activist coalition that pushes for financial reform. “That is the calculation that I would assume banks are always making,” Deskins added, “because it’s not like they have some long-standing position against hate.”
AFR joined a broad coalition of bank and credit union associations and consumer organizations in submitting a letter to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services urging passage of the Close the ILC Loophole Act, introduced by Representatives Chuy Garcia (D-IL) and Lance Gooden (R-TX).
Prof. Olson calls for governments to curb the spread of the private equity industry in health care through regulations and changes to tax laws.
AFREF led a letter with thirteen organizational signatories commenting in support of a rule proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission that would significantly increase the transparency of stock buybacks. A central component of the proposed rule is daily disclosures of stock buybacks. (Current disclosure requirements are only quarterly.) In the comment letter, we commend the SEC on the proposed rule and make recommendations to further strengthen protections against market manipulation and insider trading that we believe would improve long-term financial stability and growth.
AFREF sent a letter commenting on the Security and Exchange Commission’s proposed rule to increase the transparency and efficiency of the securities lending market. Having already commented in support of the proposed rule, we submitted an additional comment to address its corporate governance implications. The securities lending market—as it pertains to equity shares—has important corporate governance implications, as investors cannot vote shares on loan. In our comment, we recommend the Commission enhance the proposed rule’s public disclosures to give investors the tools they need to ensure the securities lending practices of asset managers and retail brokers do not interfere with investors’ role in corporate governance.
AFR’s Consumer Policy Counsel Elyse Hicks testified at today’s hearing in the House Financial Services Committee examining overdraft fees.
AFR led a letter to the House Financial Services Committee in support of Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s Overdraft Protection Act of 2021.