Fighting for the right for all Americans to have their day in court, Better Markets joined lots of other advocacy groups in a letter to SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, urging him to reject a pending attempt to take away shareholders’ rights to recovery when ripped off and to force them into secret, biased arbitration proceedings where […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, December 6, 2018 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Better Markets’ President and CEO, Dennis Kelleher, issued the following statement regarding the vote to confirm Kathy Kraninger as the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB): “Reflecting the Trump administration’s anti-consumer, pro-predator ideology, Republican Senators today […]
The creators of the credit score, Fair Isaac Co. (FICO), have unveiled a new way to determine your credit score, the result of which will a massive increase in bank loan activity, with loans going to applicants with a less-than-ideal credit score. These re-labeled subprime borrowers have similarities to subprime loans, which raises a similar […]
By Stephen W. Hall, Legal Director & Securities Specialist (appeared on Medium first) Every American expects and deserves at least one thing from their broker: objective financial advice that serves their best interest. But that’s not what usually happens. Instead, for decades, brokers have been allowed to recommend investments that pad their own wallets with […]
By Lev Bagramian In March of this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission, in a significant move, proposed a pilot to study “Transaction Fees” that equity exchanges impose on all those who trade on those exchanges. In a comment letter, we argued that fundamental market structure problems, particularly deeply rooted conflicts of interest, will not […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, August 23rd, 2018 Contact: Nick Jacobs at 202-618-6433 or at [email protected] Washington, DC — Better Markets’ President and CEO, Dennis Kelleher, issued the following statement regarding the Senate Banking Committee vote to advance President Trump’s nomination of Kathy Kraninger to be the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB): […]
Following the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) dangerous and despicable policies (averaging more than 2 harmful, anti-consumer actions a month) of putting the interests of financial predators ahead of Main Street American consumers and families, the Department of Education has announced a series of proposed rule changes that put the priorities of for-profit colleges ahead […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, August 07, 2018 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] SEC’s Investment Advice Rule Needs An Overhaul Washington, D.C. – Stephen W. Hall, Legal Director and Securities Specialist for Better Markets, issued this statement following submission of Better Markets’ comment letter on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) investment advice rule proposals: “Every […]
Today, Trump’s nominee to be the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) had a contentious hearing in the Senate Banking Committee, where she refused to answer even the most basic and straightforward questions. Last November, Better Markets’ President and CEO, Dennis Kelleher, talkedwith BillMoyers.com about why the CFPB is so important to all American […]
Trump’s Nomination of Permanent CFPB Director Is Nothing More Than a Shameless Ploy to Continue The Brazen Dismantling of the Nation’s Premier Consumer Protection Agency In a move designed to attract as little attention as possible, the White House announced Saturday evening that it was nominating a staffer from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Kathy […]
Described by a former CFPB official as a move that “defangs the watchdog and instead turns the office into a lapdog for the industry” acting director Mulvaney last week announced that the Bureau’s student loan unit would be folded into the financial education unit. With 42 million Americans currently holding an historically high $1.5 trillion in […]
Along with many, many others, we took note of CFPB acting director Mick Mulvaney’s recent remarks to the American Bankers Association, but not for the same reason. There’s no denying that his comments about the preferential treatment given to lobbyists that had contributed to his campaign were outrageous and epitomize the Washington swamp. However, those […]
In an effort to bring a new weapon to their fight, opponents of common sense regulations of all types are seeking to use the Congressional Review Act in a new, untested, and dangerous way that could potentially threaten rules going back to the Clinton administration. Recall that at the end of last year, Senator Pat […]
When you put your hard-earned money at risk by providing it to a broker for advice, shouldn’t he or she have to act in your best interest when giving you that advice? That would be a fiduciary duty and we think that should be the law, but it is not. The law today allows brokers to portray themselves as trusted advisers […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, April 18, 2018 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued this statement following the release of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) investment advice rule proposal: “The SEC exists to protect investors and the law should unambiguously require investment professionals […]
By Lev Bagramian There are plenty of indications that the SEC is earnestly working to propose a fiduciary duty rule for broker-dealers. Last June, essentially as his first act as the Chairman of the SEC, Mr. Jay Clayton requested information to better inform and facilitate the staff’s efforts in drafting a fiduciary duty rule proposal. […]
When the Dodd-Frank financial protection law was passed in 2010 — and virtually nonstop since then — the financial industry and its political allies have claimed that it would kill banks’ revenue, profits and ability to lend. Yet, year-after-year those baseless claims have been proved objectively false. Nevertheless, they persist to this day, underpinning many […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, March 29, 2018 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Stephen W. Hall, Legal Director and Securities Specialist for Better Markets, issued this statement in support of the new standards of professional conduct issued today by the CFP Board of Standards: “We commend the CFP Board for its actions today, which strengthen the […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, March 16, 2018 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – The executive directors of Public Citizen and Better Markets, two of the nation’s leading organizations protecting investors, called on U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Jay Clayton to reject any proposals that would allow publicly traded companies to […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, March 15, 2018 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Stephen W. Hall, Legal Director and Securities Specialist for Better Markets, issued this statement following the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to vacate the Department of Labor’s best interest rule: “The Fifth Circuit’s […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, March 14, 2018 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued this statement following the SEC’s announcement of a pilot program on rebates offered by exchanges to attract orders, also known as maker-taker: “In a victory for retail and long-term investors, […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, March 13, 2018 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Stephen W. Hall, Legal Director and Securities Specialist for Better Markets, issued this statement following the unanimous decision by the U.S Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upholding the Department of Labor’s best interest rule in Market Synergy […]
President Trump appointed someone who hates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) as its acting Director: Mick Mulvaney, who already has a very important full-time job as Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Mulvaney took over as acting director in late November after the CFPB’s first and wildly successful Director, Richard Cordray, […]
Last week, CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney issued a new mission statement to the CFPB staff outlining his vision for the agency. He began by cherry-picking a quote from the previous director, Richard Cordray, about “pushing the envelope” to protect consumers from financial predators, which Mulvaney found frightening. He then ignored the CFPB’s statutory mandate […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, January 31, 2018 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued the following statement on the decision by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that a single director, independent of Congress and subject to dismissal only for cause, of the Consumer […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, January 10, 2018 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets, issued the following statement following the Trump administration’s court filing seeking to stop states from protecting student borrowers under state consumer protection laws. If the Trump Administration is successful in preempting […]
And, So it Begins…………….Trump’s Acting Consumer Protection Director Begins Immediately to Stop Protecting Ripped Off Americans and Helping Predatory Financial Companies: As reported in The New York Times: “The defanging of a federal consumer watchdog agency began last week in a federal courthouse in San Francisco. “After a nearly three-year legal skirmish [read the complaint here], the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, November 27, 2017 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Stephen W. Hall, Legal Director and Securities Specialist for Better Markets, issued this statement following the announcement by the Department of Labor (DOL) of an 18-month delay of key provisions in the “best interest” fiduciary rule. “Delaying the private […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, November 15, 2017 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets, released this statement following the announced resignation of Richard Cordray as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB): “CFPB Director Richard Cordray is a financial consumer protection superhero. In just […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, October 25, 2017 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued the following statement in response to the vote in the U.S. Senate to throw out the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) rule prohibiting forced arbitration: “Forcing American consumers into arbitration […]
The process is mandatory, not optional – And it’s typically imposed in the fine print of a standard “contract of adhesion” that often goes unnoticed and allows no room for negotiation by the consumer. Panels are biased – Typically comprised of people either involved in the industry or with a prior history of working on […]
The process is mandatory, not optional – And it’s typically imposed in the fine print of a standard “contract of adhesion” that often goes unnoticed and allows no room for negotiation by the consumer. Panels are biased – Typically comprised of people either involved in the industry or with a prior history of working on […]
One would have thought that between Wells Fargo trying to force customers who had bogus accounts opened in their name into arbitration and Equifax doing the same to consumers who just want to see if their private, personal data has been hacked, the push to kill the CFPB’s rule freeing consumers from arbitration and allowing […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, July 10, 2017 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, released the following statement following the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) issuance of a final rule banning mandatory arbitration clauses: “Standing up to the most powerful, politically connected financial firms in […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, July 5, 2017 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, released the following statement regarding the brief filed by the Justice Department opposing the Chamber of Commerce and others in Chamber v. Department of Labor and arguing that the Department of […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, June 8, 2017 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets, released the following statement as the core provisions of the Department of Labor’s “best interest” fiduciary rule are set to go into effect on Friday, June 9. “Tomorrow will be a […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 5, 2017 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Following today’s decision by the Supreme Court limiting the SEC’s ability to issue disgorgement orders, Dennis M. Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets released the following statement: “The Supreme Court decision today on disgorgement is wrong. Disgorgement is not […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, May 22, 2017 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Following the announcement from Labor Secretary Acosta that there will be no delay of the “best interest” fiduciary rule, Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets, released the following statement: “One of President Trump’s first acts in office […]
Victory is sweet, but very irritating to the losers, especially if they are Wall Street’s lawyers, lobbyists and allies. After losing every battle for the last couple of years, industry opponents of the Department of Labor’s rule requiring financial advisers to put retirement savers’ best interests first have lost yet another battle in their relentless […]
With Wall Street’s biggest firms — and Goldman Sachs in particular — setting the agenda, it is no surprise that the Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) is in the cross-hairs of the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress. Because it is a powerful and fearless for financial consumers, Wall Street and its allies love to hate […]
Recent and upcoming events have once again placed the Consumer Financial Protection (CPFB) in the cross-hairs of the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress. Sadly, this should come as no surprise, because as one of the country’s most effective government agencies, Wall Street and its allies love to hate the CFPB and their so-called ”reform” […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, April 4, 2017 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued the following statement following President Trump’s comments today on the Dodd-Frank Act: “President Trump’s promise today to give the Dodd-Frank financial reform law a ‘major haircut’ would make another catastrophic […]
The Department of Labor’s “clients’ best interest” fiduciary duty rule is on the frontlines in the battle over the Trump administration’s mindless de-regulation agenda. While first delaying and then killing the “best interest” rule is a priority for the President, the rule will benefit tens of millions of Americans and has a tireless group of […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, March 21, 2017 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – With the fate of the Department of Labor’s “Best Interest” Fiduciary Rule hanging in the balance and with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee about to convene the confirmation hearing for Labor Secretary nominee Alex Acosta, we […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, February 16, 2017 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis M. Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets, today issued this statement following the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to review “en banc” the CFPB’s challenge to a ruling last year on […]
Financial Reform Newsletter February 10, 2017 A Huge Win for the American People as the DOL “Best Interest” Fiduciary Rule; Given His Embrace of All Things Wall Street, Trump’s New Hat Should be “Make Wall Street Great Again”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, February 8, 2017 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] DOL’S “BEST INTEREST” FIDUCIARY RULE GOES 3 FOR 3: ANOTHER WIN FOR RETIREES OVER INDUSTRY AS RULE WINS IN TEXAS COURT Washington, D.C. – Stephen W. Hall, Legal Director of Better Markets, issued this statement following the ruling in a Texas federal […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, November 4, 2016 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Steve Hall, Legal Director for Better Markets, issued this statement following a decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia upholding the Department of Labor’s new “best interest” fiduciary duty rule: “In the first legal battle over the Department of Labor’s ‘best interest’ fiduciary duty rule, the court […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, October 11, 2016 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430, [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued the following statement on the decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruling against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “The Court decision today on the Consumer […]
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