The Securities and Exchange Commission should use the full scope of its authority to increase transparency and reduce hidden risks to investors and markets from the private equity industry, according to a letter from 15 public interest groups.
AFREF alongside 14 other signers submitted a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) raising several abuses from the private equity industry and ways the Commission can directly address them
Lordstown Motors was supposed to be a promising electric vehicle startup backed by General Motors that would help revolutionize low-emissions vehicles while also revitalizing America’s “Rust Belt”. Instead, many of its promises, exploiting the loopholes in the SPAC model, were soon found to be untrue, reiterating the important changes that need to be made to the business model of companies taken public through SPACs.
“Investors know that climate change is a threat that some companies aren’t taking seriously enough. They need information that lets them better understand climate risks and opportunities to see who they can trust to thrive in a low-carbon future economy.”
–Alex Martin, Senior Policy Analyst, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund
AFREF, alongside 34 other organizations, joined a letter The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) submitted on June 7th to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) raising concerns about the dire state of financial reporting in Corporate America.
AFR submitted a comment letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission supporting the Commission’s proposals to require foreign security-based swap dealers and participants to abide by the SEC’s own set of capital and initial margin requirements as opposed to the less stringent Basel capital requirements.
The AFR Education Fund sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission responding to a request for comment on regulatory options for money market funds in light of the collapse and bailout of many money market funds during the March 2020 coronavirus financial shock. The letter called for strong new regulatory steps to fix incentives that create financial instability for these products. It also questioned whether additional regulation should be extended to other types of fixed-income investment funds beyond money market funds narrowly defined, as there is evidence that these types of fund arrangements can also contribute to financial instability.
“The FSOC and Treasury must pivot from this meeting and push lagging regulators to turn today’s words on climate into bold and timely action. At its next meeting, the FSOC should take the concrete steps we recommend in the Climate Roadmap. There’s still time to act, but no more time to delay.”
— Alex Martin, Senior Policy Analyst, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund
40 organizations joined AFR in a sign on letter to Congress strongly supporting the nomination of Gary Gensler as the next SEC chair.
AFR Education Fund sent a comment to the SEC supporting the proposed elimination of regulatory exemptions in government securities markets. The letter also calls for the SEC to make further reforms in fixed income markets.