“Credit ratings firm Standard & Poor’s has reached a nearly $1.4 billion settlement with the Justice Department and several states over allegations the company misled investors in the lead-up to the 2008 financial crisis by giving risky mortgage bonds its highest rating. “Under the terms of the deal, S&P will pay $687.5 million to the […]
“Two Justice Department lawyers leading an effort to hold financial firms accountable for the mortgage-fed debacle that fueled the Great Recession stopped in to talk strategy in mid-2009 with Jerry Brown, then California’s attorney general. “What are we going to do about the ratings agencies? What about them?” Brown asked the pair, Tony West and […]
“The Justice Department barely finished announcing its $1.4 billion settlement with ratings agency Standard & Poor Financial Services Tuesday before critics blasted the deal as insufficient to safeguard against another bubble. “S&P agreed to end the government’s lawsuit, brought in 2011, alleging it inflated ratings of mortgage-backed securities during the housing boom, thus fueling the […]
Better Markets President Dennis Kelleher joined Al Jazeera New’s Darren Jordon to discuss JP Morgan Chase’s $1.7 billion fine for enabling Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme. Watch the interview here.
“Antonio Weiss, the controversial nominee for the No. 3 slot at the Treasury Department, on Monday took himself out of the running to be under secretary of domestic finance. “Weiss had drawn criticism in recent months from some Democrats about his deal record. “Instead, Weiss is set to join the Treasury Department as a counselor […]
“Despite a White House veto threat, House lawmakers on Wednesday approved a package of 11 measures, including provisions seeking to encourage initial public offerings, and providing large and mid-sized financial institutions holding private equity-related debt some relief from the Volcker Rule. “The legislation passed 271 to 154. The package’s most controversial provision seeks to delay […]
And some swaps reporting. “The Securities and Exchange Commission announced new rules “that will require security-based swap data repositories (SDRs) to register with the SEC and prescribe reporting and public dissemination requirements for security-based swap transaction data.” The public reporting deadline is “within 24 hours,” which is somewhat controversial: “Dennis Kelleher, chief executive officer of Better Markets, which advocates […]
“For the second time in two weeks, House Republicans brought up a package of 11 bills designed to deregulate Wall Street and water down Dodd-Frank financial reforms. This time, they had the votes to pass it. “Today’s bill easily cleared the hurdle of majority support, gaining final passage by a count of 271-154 largely along party […]
Democrats at the SEC have scored a victory to strengthen financial reform rules for the small, niche industry that stores information about derivatives, according to two sources familiar with the matter. On Wednesday, the agency’s five commissioners will vote on rules for security-based swaps, which are mandated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank law. The SEC is […]
“The Republicans are not wasting any time in their ongoing campaign to make sure nothing stands in the way of Wall Street’s rapacious quest for more profits. “The latest example is a bill that is going largely under the radar was tabled last week, HR 185. It has yet another Orwellian name, “Regulatory Accountability Act […]
Elizabeth Warren, the firebrand critic of the financial industry in the US Senate, may be regretting that time she showed president Barack Obama how to get around obstructive senators. Obama wanted to appoint Antonio Weiss, a Lazard investment banker, to be his top Treasury official managing domestic financial markets. Left-wing Democrats led by Warren […]
When Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010, its intention was to create a raft of stronger financial regulations, all with the lofty aim of avoiding another painful financial crisis. But some of those reforms may soon be weakened, thanks to a Republican-backed bill in the House that would […]
MetLife is launching a legal attack against a key part of the 2010 financial reform law in an attempt to escape greater regulatory scrutiny with a case that challenges how a new super panel of regulators fundamentally conducts its business. The life insurance giant on Tuesday asked a federal court in Washington to set aside […]
“The Republicans have declared war against Dodd-Frank. But what kind of war is it, and on what fronts are they waging this war? I think there are at least three campaigns, each with its own strategic goals and tactics. Distinguishing these campaigns from each other will help us understand what Republicans are trying to do […]
With new Republican majorities in Congress, the Obama administration and Democrats are being tested on just how much change they will allow to the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law. Before December, Republicans had few opportunities to change anything about the overhaul of financial regulations, one of President Obama’s most significant first-term legislative achievements. But in […]
Elizabeth Warren has torpedoed a second economic nominee by the Obama administration for being too close to Wall Street, forcing Lazard banker Antonio Weiss to pull out of the running to become undersecretary of the Treasury. Warren, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, led opposition to Weiss – whom Barack Obama had nominated to fill […]
“A wide variety of people, ranging from Senators Elizabeth Warren and David Vitter to Representative Maxine Waters and FDIC’s Thomas Hoenig, are trying to stop a last-minute attempt to remove an important piece of financial reform. They are all speaking up against a move to repeal the Lincoln Amendment using language written by Citigroup in the year-end […]
WASHINGTON — A Wall Street executive whose nomination to a high-level Treasury Department post triggered a showdown between the White House and Senator Elizabeth Warren publicly withdrew his name from contention Monday, giving her a major political victory. The liberal Massachusetts lawmaker last year defied the White House and launched a bare-knuckle attack against […]
“Several of the nation’s most influential consumer and labor groups have started an online petition demanding a fiduciary obligation on financial advisors consulting with pension plans and their participants. “The petition is at SaveOurRetirement.org, which the ad-hoc coalition said it created to inform the public about why a fiduciary rule is needed. It will be […]
“Public interest groups have joined forces in a coalition to prod the U.S. Department of Labor to revise rules requiring financial advisers to act in their clients’ best interests when offering retirement investment advice. “SaveOurRetirement.com, a website created by the coalition, is urging the Labor Department to update the so-called fiduciary rule. Without that safeguard, advisers to retirement plans could sell […]
“WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Board’s recent delay of the Volcker Rule compliance deadline is sparking concern among critics that the move sets the stage for yet another congressional battle to weaken the Dodd-Frank Act. “The central bank announced last month that institutions — challenged by the difficulty of divesting holdings in time — will […]
“WASHINGTON — Elizabeth Warren celebrated her takedown of President Obama’s nominee for a top Treasury spot last week by signaling a readiness for her next battle: blocking those who meddle with the post-2008 financial reform known as the Dodd-Frank Act. “The Republican-controlled House last week passed a bill that would further ease Dodd-Frank rules and […]
“WASHINGTON — As a 12-year veteran of Goldman Sachs, U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4, is one of the very few lawmakers on Capitol Hill who understands the intricacies of Wall Street — a fact he’s not shy in pointing out. “But that expertise has made for a lonely uphill slog to the no-man’s land of Wall Street reform. […]
NEW YORK — Antonio Weiss, the Wall Street banker who President Barack Obama had picked to be the third-ranking official at the Treasury Department, has asked that the president not resend his nomination to the Senate following a major backlash from progressive Democrats who questioned his ties to the financial industry, POLITICO has learned. […]
Senator Elizabeth Warren’s populist wing of the Democratic party has shown its clout by derailing the White House’s attempt to appoint a Lazard banker to a senior US Treasury post. The nomination of Antonio Weiss, global head of investment banking at Lazard, had been opposed by Senator Warren who viewed him as a symbol of Wall Street’s […]
“Say this for Jamie Dimon: The man’s got cojones. “J.P. Morgan & Chase’s JPM, chief executive officer is taking a well-deserved roasting for complaining Wednesday that “banks are under assault” from regulators, who nastily want them to make good on old misfeasance, while meanly insisting they raise ever-more capital so the 2008 credit crash and near-depression won’t recur. […]
“Ten and a half years ago, at the Democratic convention in Boston, Barack Hussein Obama was introduced to America as a youthful, magnetic man who had burst suddenly and somewhat mysteriously onto the scene. This characterization — superficially appealing yet weightless, more symbolic than substantive — followed him throughout his presidential campaign, when Hillary Clinton […]
“One of America’s largest banks is facing a regulatory attack so insidious and overbearing that it might even be un-American, according to the head of that bank. “Banks are under assault,” JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon told reporters on a conference call Wednesday, explaining that his company now faces too much oversight. “In the old days, […]
PNC, the nation’s 10th largest bank, hasn’t spent the past few years just building itself into a financial behemoth. Like many other banks, it’s built up political capital too. And last year, it spent some of that currency to help roll back a regulation intended to prevent another Wall Street bailout. *** That doesn’t sway […]
The Republicans have been quick and shameless in using their control of both houses to try to crank up the financial services pork machine into overtime operation. The Democrats at least try to meter out their give-aways over time. Their plan, as outlined in an important post by Simon Johnson, is to take apart Dodd […]
Listen to Ian Masters’ interview with Dennis Kelleher on Washington’s Wall Street problem. Listen to more from Ian Masters here.
“Financial reform advocacy groups today are defending the White House’s proposed tax on big banks after top Republicans in Congress said it would hurt consumers. “The President’s proposed fee on the largest banks’ liabilities is tiny, targeted and will not affect consumers, savings, lending, growth or jobs,” Better Markets President Dennis Kelleher said in a […]
OBAMA GOES BOLD — President Obama did pretty much exactly as expected in his State of the Union address, taking credit for an improving economy and pushing a laundry list of proposals — most of them likely to go nowhere — to address stagnant middle class wages. But he went event harder on the state […]
“After a breakthrough year for America, our economy is growing and creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999,” President Obama said less than a minute into his State of the Union address Tuesday. President Obama receives a standing ovation as he prepares to deliver his State of the Union address to a joint […]
All eyes are on the Senate after the House passed the $1.1 trillion spending bill. Joy Reid discusses the situation with Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Dennis Kelleher, president of the pro-regulation group Better Markets. Watch the segment here.
Tucked into the new federal spending bill that passed this week was a provision to loosen banking regulations on hedges known as derivatives or swaps, rolling back part of the Dodd-Frank Act that was enacted after the financial crisis. Dennis Kelleher of Better Markets and Mark Calabria of the Cato Institute join Hari Sreenivasan for […]
“WASHINGTON (AP) — The House moved Tuesday toward approving a measure aimed at softening legislation responding to the 2008 financial crisis that put banks and Wall Street under the most sweeping rules since the Great Depression. “Amid a veto threat from the White House, the legislation pushed by the newly bulked-up Republican majority came under […]
“The banks have fought their war against financial reform on four fronts. “They have pushed for delays, lobbied allies in Congress to repeal aspects of Dodd-Frank, worked over regulators to make the rules as loose as possible and threatened legal challenges and filed lawsuits. “The battle has been overwhelming, with a scrappy band of pro-reform rebels outnumbered […]
“U.S. regulators adopted rules that will require most swaps trades to be publicly reported, a response to lax derivatives oversight in the run-up to the credit crisis. “The rules approved today by the Securities and Exchange Commission call for an interim period during which all swaps must be reported to public databases within 24 hours. […]
“On January 7, 2015, Day 2 of the new Congress, the House Republicans put their cards on the table with regard to the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reforms. The Republicans will chip away along all possible dimensions, using a combination of legislation and pressure on regulators – with the ultimate goal of relaxing the restrictions that […]
“WASHINGTON — After stuffing Wall Street’s stockings in December with subsidies for risky trading, the House of Representatives plans to wish big banks a happy New Year on Wednesday by hacking up and delaying the Volcker Rule. “The Volcker Rule is a key reform adopted after the 2008 financial meltdown that bans banks from gambling in securities […]
Dennis Kelleher appeared on American Public Media’s “Marketplace” on September 2, 2014 to discuss Former House majority leader Eric Cantor’s move to join Moelis & Company, a Wall Street investment bank. *** Dennis Kelleher, the president and CEO of Better Markets, a nonprofit that promotes the public interest in finance, says Cantor’s resume would indicate that mergers and […]
Dennis Kelleher appeared on American Public Media’s “Marketplace” on August 7, 2014 to discuss the recent bank settlements and the rejection of the big banks’ resolution plans by the federal regulators at the FDIC and the Fed. Listen to the segment here.
“CEOs Still Dodging Bullets” “The bottom line is that the SEC’s cases as a rule don’t include the top people “at the biggest, most powerful, politically connected banks that set the tone and the culture for the industry,” said Dennis Kelleher, chief executive of Better Markets, a nonprofit that promotes investor interests in financial regulation.” […]
“The banks may now press to hold onto investments in some of their funds until 2022, since Dodd-Frank envisions an extra five-year extension for funds that are “illiquid,” the financial term for something that is hard to sell quickly.” “Consumer advocates are disappointed with the delay until 2017. They said that they did not accept […]
“The Volcker rule ensures that financial institutions don’t engage in something called proprietary trading, which is when a bank trades for its own benefit as opposed to for the benefit of its customers. Banks were supposed to comply with the Volcker rule by July 21, 2014. Last year, when banking watchdogs finalized the rule, the […]
“On Friday, the Federal Reserve delayed by two years compliance with the Volcker rule, the prohibition on banks’ proprietary trading—deals made to profit the bank instead of their clients. The postponement removes a key argument of those people who dismissed Congress’ Christmas gift last week to Wall Street, the elimination of Dodd-Frank Section 716.” “Section […]
President and CEO Dennis Kelleher, of Better Markets, on derivatives and international implications of the swaps push out provision in the CRomnibus spending bill. CJOB 680 – Greg Mackling – Dec. 17th, 2014 Listen here!
“The Federal Reserve extended by two years the time that big banks have to comply with a new rule that requires them to dispose of investments in hedge funds, private equity firms and other risky operations.” “The provision is part of the so-called Volcker Rule, embedded in the 2010 Dodd-Frank banking reform law and designed […]
“When populist Democrats such as Senator Elizabeth Warren complain about the consequences of Wall Street influence on government policy, here’s what they mean: Since the March 2009 depths of the credit crisis, the KBW Bank stock index, which includes the nation’s largest financial companies, has gained 297 percent. During that same period, workers’ inflation-adjusted average […]
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