Volcker Rule Archives - Page 10 of 33 - Americans for Financial Reform

AFR Statement: House Committee Approves a Package of Wall Street Giveaways

“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.”

AFR in the News: After Virginia Sweep, Democrats Join Republicans for More Bank Deregulation (The Intercept)

“[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.”

Letter to Congress: AFR Opposes A Dozen Deregulatory Bills in House Financial Services Committee Markup

AFR sent a letter opposing a dozen different deregulatory bills being marked up by the House Financial Services Committee. AFR Letter Re HFSC 11-14 Markup

Letter to Regulator: AFR Opposes FDIC Insurance for Square Inc.

“ILC charters exploit a loophole in federal banking laws to gain access to the federal deposit-insurance safety net while avoiding critical federal supervision and regulation. ILCs therefore pose unique risks to the financial system… If these applications are granted, [it] will send a clear signal to the marketplace that the FDIC intends once again to approve ILC deposit insurance applications, potentially unleashing a dangerous avalanche of new applications.”

AFR Statement: Regulators were wrong to remove AIG from list of systemically important financial companies

“The financial crisis demonstrated that purely state-level oversight cannot fully address the potential systemic risks of our largest insurance companies. It was an ill-considered and reckless decision to remove AIG’s designation as a systemically significant financial institution.”

AFR in the News: Gary Cohn is Giving Goldman Sachs Everything It Ever Wanted (The Intercept)

“No other piece of Dodd-Frank “mattered to Goldman quite like the Volcker Rule, which would protect banks’ solvency by limiting their freedom to make speculative trades with their own money. Unless Goldman could initiate what [AFR Policy Director Marcus] Stanley called the ‘complexity two-step’ — win a carve-out so a new rule wouldn’t interfere with legitimate business and then use that carve-out to render a rule toothless — Volcker would slam the door shut on the entire direction in which Blankfein and Cohn had taken Goldman.”

Letter To Congress: Oppose HR 3312 — A Gift To Some Of The Largest Banks In The Country

“On behalf of Americans for Financial Reform, we are writing to express our opposition to H.R. 3312, the “Systemic Risk Designation Improvement Act of 2017.” This legislation is a gift to some of the largest banks in the country. The cumbersome regulatory process laid out

AFR Statement: Treasury Report Pushes Rollbacks for Wall Street and Predatory Lenders

Treasury proposal advances ideas that have been pushed by industry lobbyists since Dodd-Frank was passed. We need more effective regulation and enforcement, not rollbacks driven by Wall Street and predatory lenders.

AFR in the News: Bill to Erase Some Dodd-Frank Banking Rules Passes in House (NY Times)

“’It’s a bill that’s so harmful to vast swaths of the American public…,’ said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform. “It would make it easier for predatory lenders to rip people off. It would make it easier for Wall Street to keep taking $17 billion out of retirees’ pockets by repealing the fiduciary rule. It would make it easier for big Wall Street banks to take the kind of risks in pursuit of short-term gains that go directly to the pockets of the tiny handful of people at the top that led to the financial crisis.’”

AFR in the News: Mnuchin Said to Start Review That Could Ease Volcker Rule’s Bite (Bloomberg)

“At a closed-door meeting in Washington on Monday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin directed five key agencies to re-examine what’s permitted under the Volcker Rule… Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform, said he’s dubious that Volcker is handcuffing lenders. ‘You’re talking about banks that are making tens of billions a year on trading activity,” said Stanley, whose group supports aggressive oversight of Wall Street. “It doesn’t seem to me that they’ve exited the markets.’”