Americans for Financial Reform submitted a letter opposing several legislative proposals being considered at the House Financial Services Committee hearing “Beyond Silicon Valley: Expanding Access to Capital Across America.” Weakening investor protections in the name of capital formation threatens market integrity and exposes smaller, retail investors to unnecessary risk.
While Elon Musk attacks federal agencies’ ability to protect us from the worst excesses of corporate power, a little known Musk initiative sailed through the Delaware legislature this week. Delaware’s corporate law drew Musk’s ire when its well-regarded Court of Chancery sided with Tesla shareholders and tossed out his $56 billion pay package.
On February 17, 2025, Delaware lawmakers proposed amendments to the state’s corporate law through Senate Bill 21 or the “Billionaires’ Bill” that would enable billionaires like Elon Musk to raid corporate treasuries at the expense of working people like teachers and construction workers counting on their pensions for a secure retirement. This Billionaires’ Bill was drafted by Elon Musk’s lawyers in secret and far outside the usual procedure for formulating changes to the state’s corporate law, which governs around two thirds of the corporations in the S&P 500.
AFREF led a letter with 29 signers to the Securities and Exchange Commission reiterating the important need to pass a strong set of final rules related to requiring private fund advisers to disclose a complete breakdown of fees/expenses, assumptions used to calculate returns, and the existence of side letters to investors.
The letter is also urging the SEC to finalize a strong set of rules related to requiring private fund advisers over a certain size to report more detailed information about their holdings confidentially to the SEC so that the SEC and other financial regulatory agencies have much greater insight into the risks in the $21 trillion private fund space where there is currently little visibility in order to better safeguard the financial system.
AFREF sent a letter in support to the Securities and Exchange Commission on its proposal to better protect investors and the financial system from the problems in the $21 trillion open-end fund market.
AFREF sent a letter in support of proposals from both the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission that would provide the agencies and by extension the Financial Stability Oversight Council with additional information from the $18 trillion private fund industry related to: more specific details about their holdings in digital assets, more granular data around derivatives and swaps that reference corporate debt and information about the base currencies their holdings are denominated in. Such information will help regulators ensure that they have a clearer picture into the holdings and risks posed by the $18 trillion private fund industry in order to be able to react proactively to any risks that may threaten the financial system.
AFREF sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission supporting its proposal to treat index providers as investment advisers given the many traits of index providers that resemble investment advice.
Such proposals are necessary as index funds have grown to become a multi-trillion dollar industry but one whose decisions to include or exclude issuers from the indices, and which many fund managers must closely follow, remain opaque and feature a number of conflicts-of-interest.
AFREF joined Consumer Federation of America and Better Markets in a comment letter in response to FINRA’s request for comment on complex products calling for protections that extend beyond greater disclosures for retail investors who are vulnerable to losing significant amount of money unexpectedly on a number of complex and risky products.
AFREF led 26 other organizations in a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission supporting its proposals that would provide to investors in private funds (such as hedge funds and private equity funds) basic and important information on a quarterly basis to make informed investment decisions.
AFREF sent a comment letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission supporting several of its proposals that would better protect investors in private funds (such as hedge funds and private equity firms) that currently do not have the basic, necessary information they currently need to make informed decisions.