Senator Warren’s Speech: The Unfinished Business of Financial Reform
Tag Archives: Dodd-Frank
AFR Statement: Elizabeth Warren Lays Out the “Unfinished Business” of Financial Reform
“Americans for Financial Reform has steadily advocated for many of the policy ideas outlined in her speech, and applauds this heightened push to advance them… Even more important, we support Senator Warren’s call for a renewed effort both to carry out the Dodd-Frank reforms and, based on the lessons of the implementation process up to now, move beyond ‘technocratic’ measures that can be easy for the biggest banks to outmaneuver toward a more ‘structural’ approach and the promise of a fundamentally simpler, safer and fairer financial system.”
AFR in the News: How Warren’s Banking Agenda Could Influence Clinton (American Banker)
“Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform, said Warren’s speech lays ‘down the gauntlet for people in terms of taking specific, strong steps — including steps that go beyond Dodd-Frank — to reform Wall Street. That’s very meaningful in terms of the challenge it puts to people to say whether they’re in favor of that or not,’ he said.”
AFR in the News: General Electric Hands Dodd-Frank Its Biggest Victory Yet (Huffington Post)
“‘I see this as a win not just for too-big-to-fail, but for the extension of the regulatory perimeter in Dodd-Frank,” said Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform. “You basically had one of the largest consumer and investment banks in the country stapled onto a major industrial corporation, and because it was part of this conglomerate, it wasn’t being regulated like a major bank. When the Fed changed that regime, GE decided it wouldn’t be as profitable.'”
AFR in the News: Democratic Support Wanes for Changes in Dodd-Frank (CQ Roll Call)
“Call it the Elizabeth Warren effect. The Massachusetts Democratic senator’s anti-Wall Street crusade may help explain a small but noticeable drop in support for big banks among Democrats on Capitol Hill. The decline turns up in an analysis of voting patterns during the 113th Congress soon to be released by Americans for Financial Reform, an advocacy group that promotes Wall Street accountability.”
AFR Statement: House Budget Proposal Is a Gift to Wall Street
“Republicans in the House of Representatives have come out with a budget proposal that, while vague on many points, is all too specific in its attack on Wall Street regulation, the Dodd-Frank Act, and the work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The proposal would tie financial (and other) regulators up in procedural knots… In addition, it would eliminate a key mechanism for the safe unwinding of a big bank in the event of failure; undermine the ability of regulators to detect and curb systemically dangerous practices; and end the independent funding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.”
AFR Briefing: Presentation to Senate Banking Staff on Regulation of Large Regional Banks
AFR organized a briefing for Senate Banking staff on the regulation of large regional banks and the potential risks to the financial system that could emerge if regulatory authority over these banks is significantly diminished. AFR Policy Director Marcus Stanley and Professor Heidi Schooner of the Catholic University School of Law presented at the briefing.
AFR Briefing Paper: Myths and Realities of Large Regional Banks and the Dodd-Frank Act
In recent months there have been calls to roll back regulation of large regional banks – institutions that hold over $50 billion in assets but are not among the eight U.S. mega-banks with a global footprint. In response to unfounded claims about the treatment of large regional banks under the Dodd-Frank Act, AFR has sent a briefing paper to congressional staff as well as the press.
AFR Statement: HR 50 Is a Gift to Wall Street
This legislation is the latest effort to cripple regulators’ ability to protect the public interest by loading them down with new paperwork requirements and enabling even more industry lawsuits. HR 50 would impose dozens of new analysis burdens on the financial regulators who oversee Wall Street, and then change the law to ensure the ability of big banks to sue to stop a regulation based on even a single claimed analytical failure.
AFR in the News: Republicans and Wall Street Say To Hell With Protecting the Public! (Moyers & Co.)
“Since December, Congress has twice passed measures to weaken regulations in the Dodd-Frank financial law that are intended to reduce the risk of another financial meltdown. In the last election cycle, Wall Street banks and financial interests spent over $1.2 billion on lobbying and campaign contributions, according to Americans for Financial Reform. Their spending strategy appears to be working. Just this week, the House passed further legislation that would delay by two years some key provisions of Dodd-Frank. “[Banks] want to be able to do things their way, and that’s very dangerous.” MIT economist Simon Johnson tells Bill.