“Marcus Stanley, policy director for Americans for Financial Reform, said he was glad to see the authority embraced in the report, but alarmed by specifics of the bankruptcy recommendations that he said ‘would create special privileges for big banks, rely on unrealistic assumptions, and in their current form would likely increase risks to the financial system.'”
“Under current law, banks with more than $50 billion in assets are considered ‘systemically important financial institutions’ and therefore are subject to extra scrutiny. The Senate bill would lift that threshold to $250 billion, relaxing oversight of 25 of the 38 largest banks in the country. According to Americans for Financial Reform, those banks are collectively responsible for $3.5 trillion in assets and received nearly $50 billion in bailout money during the financial crisis.”
“H.R. 3312 dramatically restricts oversight of some of the largest banks in the country, increasing risks to regional economies and to financial stability, and therefore to the prosperity of families and communities.”
AFR sent a letter opposing a bill that would eliminate the independent voice of proxy advisory firms and unfairly disadvantage shareholders as compared to firm management.
AFR Policy Director Marcus Stanley testified to the Financial Institutions subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee on five pieces of proposed legislation. Written Testimony: Marcus Stanley Testimony To House Financial Services FI Subcommittee December 7 2017 FINAL The full hearing is available here: https://financialservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=402730
Disguised as a regulatory relief for small businesses, this legislation would exempt from registration requirements merger and acquisition brokers of transactions involving quite large privately held companies, while opening a deregulatory window of opportunity for private equity firms to exploit.
“On behalf of Americans for Financial Reform, we are writing to express our support for proposed changes…by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors… to the FR Y-15 systemic risk reporting form… regarding the treatment of cleared over-the-counter derivatives transactions.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Nov. 20, 2017 CONTACT Carter Dougherty carter@ourfinancialsecurity.org (202) 251-6700 Treasury Memorandum Weakens Systemic Risk Supervision On Friday the Treasury Department released a memorandum on the process used by the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) to designate large systemically significant non-bank financial institutions
“The package includes legislation that would release the nation’s largest banks from measures to prevent a financial crisis, saving them billions of dollars in expenses,” AFR’s Lisa Donner said. “It would also allow banks and fintech firms to cooperate in new forms of payday lending, and make investment products riskier for mom-and-pop savers. And it’s all happening against the backdrop of a big proposed tax cut for Wall Street.”
“[T]he Senate cabal has masked their handout by claiming to focus on relief for small community banks… [But] the proposal ‘includes over a dozen measures that would ease rules on banks, and a few minor changes for consumers that ought to be a given,’ said Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform, the main pro-regulatory advocacy group in D.C.”