Hi Friend,
This has been a busy month for our team as we applauded the confirmation of key Federal Reserve nominees, put a spotlight on the egregious actions of Wall Street’s biggest banks, and weighed in on cryptocurrency and its potential impact on investors and ordinary Americans.
We celebrated the Senate’s confirmation of Dr. Lisa Cook as the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve Board in its 109-year history. The confirmation of Dr. Cook and that of Dr. Philip Jefferson this month, are important steps towards making the Federal Reserve Board, our government, and our economy more inclusive. We were also pleased to see the Senate confirm Chair Jerome Powell and Vice Chair Lael Brainard. President Biden’s nominee for the key position of Vice Chair for Supervision at the Fed, Michael Barr, had his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on May 19th and, hopefully, he will soon be voted on as well.
These nominations are crucial for lots of reasons, including because there is much more to do to hold Wall Street accountable when they break the law. Our recent Rap Sheet Report shows that Wall Street’s 6 biggest banks racked up another $1 billion in fines in 35 cases over the last 15 months, and a total of 430 legal actions and nearly $200 billion in fines over the last two decades. The shocking breadth, depth, and persistence of repeated lawbreaking by these banks year after year proves that even big fines are meaningless. Only meaningfully and personally punishing individual lawbreakers, including executives and supervisors, will stop this Wall Street crime spree.
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Our team weighed in on key questions involving cryptocurrency, including FTX’s application to the CFTC to offer additional financial products on its exchange. Additionally, we voiced our strong concerns over moves by financial institutions to add cryptocurrency investment options to 401 (k) plans. The crypto carnage, volatility, and wealth destruction over the last few weeks are red flags as to the threats posed to customer protection and systemic stability by cryptocurrency investments. We will continue to monitor these issues closely in the coming months.
Finally, our CEO and President Dennis Kelleher was chosen by Washingtonian Magazine for the second year in a row as one of the most influential people shaping policy. It is noteworthy that, of the most influential people chosen, Dennis is the only public interest nonprofit leader in Washington, DC selected in the banking and finance policy areas, while there were more than two dozen representatives of the banking and financial industry featured on the list.
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Simply put, Better Markets plays a unique and essential role in standing up for ordinary Americans in the public policy process and acting as a counterweight to the mountain of money spent by Wall Street every year.
Thank you for your support in allowing Better Markets to serve as that singular voice.
Anton Becker
Communications Director, Better Markets
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Better Markets in the News
MAY 2022 Better Markets’ viewpoints on our regulatory work and accountability at the Federal Reserve have been sought after and featured in several major news outlets. Here are our top hits from April 28 through May 13, 2022. Please note that some of the articles highlighted may require a paid subscription to read the full article. MEDIA HITS
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Report Release: Wall Street's Ongoing Crime SpreeOur Wall Street Rap Sheet report details the egregious lawbreaking of the six of the nation’s largest banks—Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo—who have amassed more than $1 billion in fines in 35 cases in just the last 15 months. READ MORE
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SEC Proposal Would Establish Comprehensive Cybersecurity Disclosure RequirementsWe supported the Commission’s proposed rule to establish comprehensive cybersecurity disclosure requirements for publicly traded companies, which would provide investors with more standardized and timely material information about the cybersecurity risks, governance, and incidents that face publicly traded companies in today’s financial markets. READ MORE
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The Ongoing Crypto Carnage and Wealth Destruction Are Red FlagsIn a letter to the CFTC, we urged the agency to exercise extreme caution as it considers FTX's proposal to offer non-intermediated, margined clearing of Bitcoin futures products. READ MORE
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SEC Must Do More to Reform the Corrupt, Conflict-Ridden Credit Ratings ProcessWhile the SEC’s proposed rule to remove references to credit ratings from Regulation M is a good start, we called on the agency to do more to reform the corrupt credit rating process. READ MORE
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Better Markets Supports SEC Rules to Expand Regulation on High Frequency Trading FirmsHigh-frequency trading firms have grown tremendously in recent years, now representing roughly 50% of the trading volume in the U.S. equities market. Yet many of these firms do not fall under the SEC’s regulatory framework. We supported the SEC’s proposal to help enhance transparency, market resilience, and investor protection by making sure that these firms register with the SEC and are regulated accordingly. READ MORE
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Each month our legal team outlines some of the top cases we’re keeping an eye on, the Amicus “Friend of the Court” Briefs we have filed, and why everyone with a bank account, credit card, mortgage loan, or retirement loan should be interested in those cases.
Read the latest updates from our team of legal experts.
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CFPB Director Testifies About Important Consumer Protection MeasuresIn late April, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra appeared before the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee to answer questions from lawmakers about bank fees, medical debt, and other industry activities that hit consumers in their pocketbooks. Director Chopra said that banks took in more than $15 billion in overdraft fees and other fees in recent years; he described these as "junk fees" and said "there is a fee-creep that is occurring throughout the economy." He said the CFPB has launched an investigation into these fees, and is prepared to issue new rules to protect consumers.
Treasury Secretary Yellen Testifies Days After Stablecoin Meltdown
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testified before the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee to give an update on the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s annual report about systemic risks to the financial sector. At the hearings, which came just days after the sudden meltdown of the TerraUSD stablecoin, Secretary Yellen urged lawmakers to come up with a legislative approach to govern stablecoins. She emphasized that this is something that the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets called for in a report last year which described the risk to the financial system posed by stablecoins. "Our strong recommendation to Congress is that you work on a bipartisan basis to put in place a comprehensive national regulatory framework,” Secretary Yellen said.
Senate Confirms Fed Chairman, Governors
The Senate also voted on a number of important appointees to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Jerome Powell was reconfirmed as Fed Chairman by a vote of 80-19; Phillp Jefferson was confirmed as a Fed Governor by a vote of 91-7, and Lisa Cook was confirmed as a Fed Governor by a vote of 50-49. The Senate Banking Committee also held a hearing to consider the nomination of Michael Barr to be the Vice Chairman for Supervision at the Fed, a crucial role among financial regulators.
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Check out these news articles that provide relevant and informative information on topics of interest to Better Markets and its staff. Please note you may need a paid subscription to view certain articles below.
Cryptocurrency assets are highly speculative and investors in them need more protections or they could lose trust in the markets, Gary Gensler, chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said on Monday.
The SEC’s recent lawsuit against Vale S.A., a publicly traded mining company based in Rio de Janeiro, demonstrates that the SEC is considering all reporting and public statements, not just required filings when determining if a company has misled its investors on environmental and social matters, Vinson & Elkins attorneys warn.
Lorie K. Logan, a longtime Federal Reserve Bank of New York veteran, will be the next leader of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
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