Tag Archives: Wall Street

Policy Memo: Federal Reserve Policy & Regulatory Changes Needed in Response to Bank Failures

The Federal Reserve’s deregulatory and light touch approach to regulation and supervision paved the way for the bank failures that have shaken the financial system this year and that led to extraordinary government intervention to preserve financial stability. Below we suggest a set of changes the Fed can make without Congressional action that would increase financial stability and put the welfare of the public ahead of the narrow interests of big banks and Wall Street.

Blog: Private Equity Can Kill: Help Us Fight Wall Street’s Deadly Power in Nursing Homes

Unbeknownst to most people with loved ones in nursing homes, it’s often nearly impossible to determine if the facility you’ve entrusted your family member to is owned by a private equity firm – an ownership structure that has been shown to result in worse health outcomes for patients, at greater cost. Within the past two decades, the once-obscure private equity industry has ballooned in size from $1 trillion in 2008 to nearly $4.5 trillion in 2021.

Guest Blog: Do Not Revamp or Defund the CFPB

Congressional Republicans have moved on to their next target for financial deregulation: Republicans in Congress and the consumer finance industry want to eliminate or hobble the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The agency has provided $16 billion in restitution or cancelled debt to 192 million consumers since the agency began operation in 2010. It’s one of the few institutions, public or private, that has earned Americans’ confidence in a long time.

Blog: Fed Should Ignore Megabank Lobby and Strengthen Capital Rules

As the Federal Reserve prepares new capital rules for American banks, Wall Street is rolling out its misdirection and bad arguments – as it has for much of the past decade – about why they should not be required to steel themselves against a crisis or downturn. And once again, regulators and Congress must be prepared to ignore their histrionics and strengthen capital requirements.

News Release: Subprime Corporate Debt, Hitting $5 Trillion, Brings Defaults, Slower Growth

The explosion of low-quality lending has brought debt loads in corporate America to record highs, a development that is likely to bring, in the coming years, a wave of defaults, slower growth, future job losses, and potential instability stemming from the utter opacity of this business. Despite the exponential growth in subprime corporate debt, our laws and regulations have not kept up, leaving policymakers and regulators in the dark as to the exact size of this market and where various risks may exist that could affect other financial institutions, companies, and their workers.

News Release: New Poll Shows Consumer Bureau Popular Across Party Lines

A new poll released today shows voters across the political spectrum overwhelmingly back the mission of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), financial regulation generally and a variety of new, specific consumer protections. The findings are released as the Supreme Court is poised to consider a lawsuit from payday lenders that could invalidate the CFPB’s funding mechanism, which would undermine its effectiveness.

In The News: Opening Salvo (Politico’s Morning Money)

Americans for Financial Reform is out with a blog post this morning blasting a coalition of big bank trade groups over their lawsuit against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau seeking to reverse a new agency crackdown on discrimination in banking or banking services. They accuse the groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Consumer Bankers Association, of “trying to drag their disputes with CFPB into a more favorable arena, namely a judiciary with a strong pro-corporate, right-wing bent.”

sign for the CFPB outside a building

Blog: Big Banks Argue Discrimination is Fair and it’s Not Satire

Ask a reasonable person if discrimination on the basis of race or religion is unfair. The odds are good – very good, according to this AFR poll, – that you’ll get a resounding “yes,” a polite “of course,” or even an incredulous “are you kidding?” Yes. Discrimination. Is. Unfair. But if you try to convince big-bank lobbyists that discrimination is unfair, you won’t get a “yes.” You get a lawsuit, with multiple awful lines of attack, that stands a good chance of succeeding. And that’s not satire.