AFREF led a letter urging the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) as the coordinating body for several regulatory agencies to imminently take action against the various misdeeds that may be conducted by the issuers of stablecoins. The letter explains that such urgency cannot be overstated given how quickly the market continues to grow, posing greater threats to the broader financial system.
Americans for Financial Reform’s Andrew Park spoke on the “Crypto’s Rapid Rise: The Future of Finance or Cause for Concern” panel at the Consumer Federation of America Virtual Financial Services Conference.
President Biden’s renomination of Jerome Powell to chair the Federal Reserve Board is a major disappointment to those of us who have fought for tougher regulation of Wall Street as a key tool for protecting financial stability and building a more just and sustainable economy.
AFREF sent a letter to the Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office (FIO) on how the agency can coordinate with state insurance regulators and insurers to have the necessary data, supervisory framework, and prudential regulation in a world where climate-related losses continue to rise and pose risks to the entire financial system.
AFR sent a letter to Congress in support of H.R. 2620, the Investor Choice Act of 2021.
AFR’s Senior Policy Analyst Renita Marcellin hosted a conversation with Professor Art Wilmarth, author of Taming the Megabanks: Why We Need a New Glass-Steagall Act. Professor Wilmarth discussed why structural protections, such as a modern Glass-Steagall Act and the separation between banking and commerce, are necessary in the banking system. They also examined how the erasure of these laws have led to many of the challenges we are currently facing in the financial system including ILCs/special purpose charters, the rise of Fintech firms, and stablecoins and highlighted the urgency of revisiting laws on structural separations in the banking system.
Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund and the Communication Workers of America sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission urging that the Commission close critical loopholes and exemptions that currently exist in its Forms 13-F and 13-D reports that have been intentionally exploited by hedge fund investors. By doing so, hedge funds can no longer utilize derivatives and other complex financial instruments to build large positions and ambush the management of companies.
Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell has presided over a broad deregulatory agenda that has made our financial system less resilient and driven rising wealth and income inequality.
The Federal Reserve has announced the results of its 2021 bank stress tests. Since then, these results have led a steady parade of the largest banks in the country to announce dramatic increases in dividends. The stress tests will also enable greater share buybacks and other capital distributions by banks. This will enrich senior executives and large shareholders, while putting financial stability at risk.
AFR sent a letter urging the Biden Administration to take a faster pace in filling key regulatory and financial policy positions. The letter calls out how the Administration’s slow pace in these appointments has undermined its racial justice and climate change agendas.