Regulation Archives - Page 2 of 5 - Americans for Financial Reform

Letter to Congress: Oppose H.R. 10 – The Wall Street’s CHOICE Act Would Devastate Financial Regulation

“H.R. 10, the ‘Financial CHOICE Act’… would be better dubbed ‘Wall Street’s CHOICE Act,’ as it would have a devastating effect on the ability of regulators to protect consumers and investors from Wall Street exploitation and the economy from financial risks created by too-big-to-fail megabanks. It would expose consumers, investors, and the public to greatly heightened risk of abuse in their regular dealings with the financial system, and our economy as a whole to a far greater risk of instability and crisis.”

Letter to Regulators: AFR Calls on CFTC to Forcefully Regulate High-speed Automated Trading

“…We urged the Commission to be more aggressive in laying out structural reforms to the markets and more specific limits on dangerous automated trading practices. The current Supplemental NPRM does not change our basic assessment, as it maintains the basic framework of the 2015 NPRM, with no movement toward additional specificity in risk limits or risk control requirements or reduced discretion for market actors in designing and implementing risk controls…

Letter to Congress: Enhanced Financial Protections for Small Businesses

“Small businesses are a primary driver of job growth and wealth creation in the United States, providing more than half the country’s jobs and two-thirds of net new jobs. …There is a strong and growing consensus that small businesses should have stronger federal protections in the financial marketplace. …The best agency to oversee protections for small businesses is the CFPB. The CFPB is the primary enforcer of the core statutes that protect borrowers and other users of financial services against misconduct.”

AFR Statement: Hensarling’s New Deregulation Bill Is Worse than the Old One

“Rep. Hensarling’s revisions to his Wall Street’s CHOICE Act will make a disastrous bill even worse…This legislation doesn’t just repeal huge swaths of the Dodd-Frank Act – it makes regulators even weaker than they were before the financial crisis.”

AFR Policy Brief: FDIC Report Contradicts Claims That Regulation Has Harmed Lending, Bank Earnings

“Hard data on bank earnings and lending should lay to rest any notion that financial regulations are holding back the American economy, or getting in the way of American banks making money. These claims are just an excuse to to dismantle hard-won protections for consumers and financial stability.”

Joint Letter: Public Interest Groups Urge Financial Industry Leaders to Call a Halt to Anti-Investor Tactics of Trade Associations Seeking to Overturn DOL Protections for Retirement Savers

“Financial services companies that support giving retirement investors investment advice that is in their best interests should stand up against the aggressive anti-investor lobbying tactics of their trade associations seeking to overturn the Department of Labor’s (DOL) conflict of interest rule, according to three national organizations that have supported DOL efforts to strengthen protections for retirement savers.”

Letter to Congress: Oppose HR 78 The SEC Regulatory Accountability Act

“This legislation is transparently an effort to paralyze the SEC and to empower Wall Street lawyers to overturn its decisions, not to improve its analysis or decision making. …The most prominent new requirement would mandate that the SEC identify every “available alternative” to a proposed regulation or agency action and quantitatively measure the costs and benefits of each such alternative prior to taking action. …In addition to the enormous task of identifying and analyzing every available alternative to a course of action, the agency would be required to perform half a dozen new analyses in addition to its current requirements concerning market efficiency, competition, and capital formation. These new requirements include analyses of effects on small business, market liquidity, state and local government, investor choice, and “market participants”. Notably, no new requirements concerning the protection of investors or preventing another financial crash are included. …We urge you to reject it.”

AFR In The News: Moderate Democrats helped Wall Street avoid regulation in the ’90s. They’re doing it again. (Vox)

“There’s also a case to be made for the limits of cost-benefit analysis in general, as it tends to undercount benefits even when used in realms for which it’s better suited. What’s more, empowering OIRA to directly intervene in financial regulations could overwhelm the tiny office. As Americans for Financial Reform notes, OIRA “has only 50 employees, as opposed to tens of thousands of employees at the various [financial] regulatory agencies” and “lacks substantive expertise in financial matters.”

AFR Briefing: Bond Market Liquidity, Regulation, and the Public Interest

Recent months have seen increasing claims by some industry participants and their allies that new regulations are negatively impacting bond market liquidity in ways that may harm the economy. What is the truth of these claims? Is there in fact a serious problem with bond market liquidity? Are recent market events such as the October 15th Treasury market disruption related to new regulation, or to other market changes such as increases in electronic trading? How should regulators respond?

Letter to Regulator: AFR Joins 8 Organizations in Urging FCC to Strengthen Consumer Protections Against Robodialing

“We, the undersigned national advocacy organizations representing consumers across America, very much appreciate the Chairman’s proposed Declaratory Ruling rejecting most of the requests by industry to undermine the essential protections of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. “