AFREF and CRL led a letter calling for the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to reject a proposed merger between TD Bank and First Horizon Bank.
Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, along with 25 undersigned organizations, is pleased to submit comments responding to the Joint Notice of Public Rulemaking (NPR) from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (collectively “the agencies”) regarding changes to the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA).
A coalition of groups aiming to further financial inclusion, affordable housing, and racial and climate justice called for strengthened environmental justice provisions as the comment period for an update of the rules implementing the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) comes to a close.
AFREF and Demand Progress submitted a letter in response to the Federal Reserve’s Request for Information on a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). In the submission, we urge the Fed to consider privacy and fraud protection, and also point to other alternatives to CBDC the Fed could pursue to promote broader financial inclusion.
With the confirmation of Lisa Cook to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, we should take a moment to celebrate the historic moment. Lisa Cook will join the board as the first Black woman governor. Philip Jefferson will soon become only the fourth Black man to serve on the board. With Lael Brainard as Vice Chair, the Fed Board, long a preserve of white men, is starting to look more like the country as a whole.
AFREF sent a comment letter to the Federal Reserve on firms’ eligibility to gain access to privileged Fed Reserve accounts and services.
In a letter addressed to Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, a coalition of 97 unions, civil rights, financial, and environmental groups declared their support for Dr. Lisa Cook, Dr. Philip Jefferson, and Sarah Bloom Raskin, all nominated by President Joe Biden to serve on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.
The nomination of the highly qualified Sarah Bloom Raskin, Lisa Cook, and Philip Jefferson to the Fed is a very welcome step forward towards a better-regulated Wall Street. The Fed needs to steer a new course that begins with a reversal of the deregulation of the Trump era. This work must continue with pro-active regulation and supervision of Wall Street.
Acting Comptroller Michael Hsu announced that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) plans to develop climate risk supervisory expectations for large banks and issue guidance for comment by the end of the year. Over the past year, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund and partners have urged the OCC and other banking regulators to take this important initial step immediately. We applaud Acting Comptroller Hsu for his leadership on this issue and we urge the other regulators to follow suit and issue guidance by the end of the year.
Americans for Financial Reform and allies today rallied in front of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors to highlight Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s failure to protect the U.S. economy from major systemic threats like climate change, racial and economic inequality, excessive risk-taking from the big banks, and private equity firms extracting wealth from communities and workers across the nation.