Tag Archives: FSOC

News Release: Labor, Advocates Push for Limits on Asset Manager Influence Over U.S. Banks

Today, 38 labor unions, investors, and advocates submitted a letter to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in support of a proposed rule that would increase oversight of asset managers with substantial voting power in banks. The proposal would bolster FDIC oversight when asset managers gain control of over 10 percent of voting securities of bank holding companies with FDIC-supervised subsidiaries.

Letters to Congress: Letter Opposing H.R. 3556 “Increasing Financial Regulatory Accountability and Transparency Act”

AFR sent a letter opposing H.R. 3556 “Increasing Financial Regulatory Accountability and Transparency Act,” a bill supposedly to make the Fed more transparent, which will instead hamstring the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s (“FSOC”) ability to effectively monitor risk in the financial system. This bill would subject the FSOC’s designation authority to Congressional review, which would allow any firm the FSOC designates as systemically important to lobby Congress to rescind the FSOC’s designation. This would render the FSOC designation authority under the Dodd-Frank Act futile and unnecessarily politicize the agency’s efforts to monitor companies that pose an outsized risk to our financial system. This bill comes at the heels of the FSOC’s announcement to reinvigorate its designation process, a welcome step in preventing the next financial crisis.

the outside exterior of the U.S. Treasury Department building

Letters to Regulators: Letter to Secretary Yellen on Restoring FSOC’s Ability to Fully Execute its Authority Under Dodd Frank

AFREF and 30 allies sent a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging her to prioritize restoring FSOC’s ability to fully execute its authority under Dodd-Frank by repealing the SIFI 2019 guidance; developing a data strategy for OFR; and using the statutory authority given in Title I of Dodd-Frank to apply a racial equity lens when designating a non-bank financial company as a SIFI.

A pair of hands writing on paper with a pen

Letters to Regulators: Letter Urging FSOC to Take Action Against Stablecoin Issuers

AFREF led a letter urging the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) as the coordinating body for several regulatory agencies to imminently take action against the various misdeeds that may be conducted by the issuers of stablecoins. The letter explains that such urgency cannot be overstated given how quickly the market continues to grow, posing greater threats to the broader financial system.

sunrise over a field of wind turbines

News Release: Treasury’s climate report light on specifics, regulators must go much farther, faster

The U.S. Treasury Department released its climate finance report on Thursday evening following a meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) where members voted to approve the report. Though strong in some areas like climate risk disclosure and scenario analysis, the report largely highlights agency actions that are already underway, and it fails to lay out a comprehensive roadmap with specific recommendations and timelines for regulators to consider beyond the assessment and disclosure of climate risk, Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) and Public Citizen said. 

News Release: 40,000 petitioners to Yellen: Time for bold climate action in new report

Public Citizen, Sierra Club, 350.org, Americans for Financial Reform, Evergreen Action, and Action Center on Race and the Economy today delivered more than 40,000 petition signatures to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen demanding that an upcoming report highlight the gravity of climate threats to our financial system and identify concrete steps that financial regulators should take to address them.