For the fifth year in a row, Washingtonian Magazine selected Dennis Kelleher, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Better Markets, as one of the Most Influential People in Washington. “With a new administration now in place, these power players’ expertise and strategic insight are especially crucial as they navigate shifting priorities and relationships across the capital,” Washingtonian says of the honorees.

On President Trump’s 100th day in office, our policy experts examined his key personnel and policy choices, potential sources of risk, and the implications for the broader economy.

With the Trump administration coming into office, Better Markets held a virtual event discussing the election, the incoming administration, and the most consequential economic, financial, and political issues facing the country, featuring Better Markets’ Co-founder, President and CEO Dennis Kelleher.

Shayna Olesiuk, our Director of Banking Policy, testified at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on debanking. Shayna explained “If the crypto industry had followed the law like almost every other financial firm in the U.S., then it would not be crosswise with regulators who are mandated to enforce the law and protect customers, investors, and financial stability. This is also an issue of fairness to the other financial firms in the U.S. who are following the law. Crypto should not be given an unfair advantage over its competitors with a different set of rules.”

Better Markets continued to shed light on crypto crime that broke records in 2024. Some reports estimate that the total amount received by illicit cryptocurrency addresses will be over $50 billion. Our team also explained how crypto scams like “pig butchering” were stealing from the pockets of Main Street Americans.

Our Ben Schiffrin took part in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s inaugural Crypto Task Force roundtable, “How We Got Here and How We Get Out – Defining Security Status.”

Ben emphasized the importance of consumer protections for retail investors involved in the crypto markets.

WATCH: At a Patriotic Millionaires event, Dennis Kelleher explained how the economy is rigged against working Americans and what we can do about it.

Better Markets advocated for lowering the minimum tick size, which would allow investors to better determine the prices at which they bid. The SEC adopted Better Markets recommendations, providing greater transparency and accountability to markets.

After our advocacy in support of the proposed rule, the FDIC took the long overdue step of expanding employment opportunities in our banking system to qualified individuals who have committed minor crimes or older offenses that do not endanger public trust and who have fully paid their debt to society.

For the fourth year in a row, Washingtonian Magazine selected Dennis Kelleher, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Better Markets, as one of the Most Influential People in Washington. Washingtonian calls it a “list of the experts and advocates, outside the government, who are playing big roles in Washington’s policy debates.”

As AI technologies are refined and new ones are developed, AI advocates highlight the potential benefits, including greater efficiency in financial services, lower costs, and better financial outcomes for clients. While some of these are real, AI applications in finance also present serious risks to markets and financial stability by exacerbating existing channels of instability and creating new ones.

Our team examined the key threats of Artificial Intelligence in Finance and the key issues policymakers and regulators need to consider. We also recommended to Treasury that financial regulators take action to allow for AI innovation while also prioritizing consumer protection.

The voluntary carbon markets are essential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions but are hindered by challenges like fraud, disorganization, and integrity concerns.

In a letter to the CFTC, Better Markets advocated for the agency to increase transparency in the carbon credit markets to help combat climate change. The CFTC adopted many of our recommended changes. 

The team vigorously opposed the approval of Bitcoin ETPs by the SEC, given the threats to consumers, investors, and financial stability.

Kalshi, a financial services company, is trying to facilitate gambling on U.S. elections through CFTC – a dangerous attempt which will threaten our democracy. Better Markets has opposed this effort because gambling on elections is a bad idea, it’s contrary to the law and public policy, and the CFTC has no experience, expertise, or basis for regulating and supervising betting on
US elections. Kalshi’s proposal is nothing more than a sneaky backdoor attempt to unleash election gambling – and likely election interference – on Americans. Our team work on this crucial issue throughout 2024 and the election.

You can find an important explanation of the key issues in Dennis Kelleher and Lisa Gilbert’s, Executive Vice President of Public Citizen, joint op-ed for the Los Angeles Times explaining why this proposal must be stopped.

Generations of discrimination and mistreatment informed by racist beliefs, narratives, laws, policies, and practices have contributed to deeply entrenched structural inequities within the financial services sector that continue to profoundly undermine the economic status of people of color.

During June 2024, Better Markets focused on  areas where the financial regulatory agencies can take action to address racial economic inequality. You can find that work here.

In the courts, Better Markets successfully intervened in a landmark case challenging the CFPB’s funding mechanism. The Supreme Court ruled that the agency’s funding mechanism was constitutional, as we pointed out in our joint amicus brief, a massive win for Main Street Americans.

At the SEC and CFTC we filed a comment letter supporting the joint rule proposal by the agencies to address information gaps that have evolved since Form PF was originally implemented nearly ten years ago. Our efforts led to a finalized rule that will require private fund advisers to file reports providing the necessary information that allows the agencies to protect investors and FSOC to better assess systemic risk.

The Supreme Court ended its 2023-2024 term with 3 exceptionally damaging decisions that undermine the ability of the government to protect the public from a wide range of threats to their health, safety, welfare, and financial well-being. Our team analyzed the implications for Main Street.

Throughout 2024 our team called out the crypto industry’s false claims that their products needed new legislation because they were almost entirely covered by existing, longstanding laws.

Following Better Markets advocacy the SEC adopted amendments to better protect the sensitive personal information of their customers and alert those customers when a data breach occurs. The SEC cited Better Markets comment letter advocating for these changes 50 times in its release.

Better Markets continued and ramped up the efforts to take on the industry’s false claims about capital. We advocated for stronger capital requirements and  for more accountability for Global Systemically Important Bank (GSIBs).

After advocacy from Better Markets, the SEC required that large broker-dealers calculate the net cash owed to their customers daily. The change from a weekly calculation requirement, which the SEC first adopted in 1972, to a daily requirement reduces the risk that if these broker-dealers fail financially, they will have insufficient funds to reimburse their customers with the cash they are owed. Retail investors should not risk losing their funds because of the failures of an institution.

In commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse, Better Markets held a virtual conference with many experts and public officials, including  to discuss the causes, consequences, and ongoing impacts of the 2008 crash, too-big-to-fail generally, and all things finance and economics. 

Better Markets held a “Crypto Week of Truth” to shed light on the industry’s failed promises and track record of lawlessness, deception fraud and investor losses. Each day featured original content and analysis examining the fundamental issues surrounding crypto. 

Our years-long push (on our own and in collaboration with the coalition) to get the DOL to issue a new, strong set of fiduciary duty rules has borne fruit with a suite of well-crafted provisions that will help tens of millions of retirement savers save tens of billions of dollars a year. 

Our staff were quick to respond to the Spring Banking Crisis of 2023.  As the crisis unfolded and, in its aftermath, we provided real-time analysis of the causes and pushed policymakers and regulators to enact real change to protect Main Street families from needless bank failures.

Low- and moderate-income families and communities have been illegally denied credit, investment, and banking services for decades, which has contributed to intergenerational wealth gaps and poverty. The CRA was supposed to change that. It was supposed to help revitalize low- and moderate-income communities merely by making sure they got their fair share of credit, but it has failed, as highlighted by one shocking statistic: home ownership rates among the lowest income Americans are no greater today than they were when the CRA was passed into law 45 years ago. Equally shocking, the banking regulators keep showering the banks near-perfect CRA scores year-after-year.

Better Markets identified how banking regulators’ proposals to update the CRA would not work while also identifying the steps they could take to improve outcomes for minority and low-income communities. 

In a report, Better Markets staff shed a light on how the climate crisis may become the next financial crisis and how regulators, Wall Street, lawmakers, and the media were ignoring it.

Better Markets used its regualtory, policy, legal, and media expertise to get the CFTC to reject KalshiEX, LLC’s attempt to allow traders to bet on U.S. elections via so-called “event contracts.” Better Markets built a broad coalition of policymakers, experts, advocacy groups, and concerned citizens to oppose the proposal and protect democracy, markets, and investors.

The CFPB is the federal government’s most meaningful attempt in generations to protect individuals from predatory practices in the financial markets. The agency is under relentless attack by the financial industry and its allies precisely because it has been so effective at combating predatory and discriminatory practices by a broad swath of lenders, having returned billions of dollars to victimized consumers.

Better Markets joined an amicus curiae brief with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and other prominent civil rights organizations urging the Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of the CFPB.

Stock buybacks have grown substantially in recent years and with that trend has come increasing public scrutiny and criticism.  They are often viewed as a strategy that corporate insiders can use to line their pockets instead of re-investing capital in the company to enhance long-term productivity, profitability, and employee welfare.

Better Markets issued a comment letter urging the SEC to shine more light on stock buybacks transactions that serve to only benefit management over shareholders.

Better Markets pushed back against the bank lobbyist claims that higher capital requirements would be bad for Main Street Americans. The only thing standing between a failing bank and a taxpayer-funded bailout is bank capital. Better capitalized banks are more capable of withstanding an economic downturn and continuing to lend. Undercapitalized banks, however, are more likely to fail and lead to financial panic, as happened in 2008 and in 2023. We were on the front line throughout the year, rebutting their falsehoods with facts and data.

Better Markets released a Fact Sheet outlining Wall Street’s most egregious false claims on capital.

In an examination of the SEC’s work on crypto, our team detailed the facts of what the SEC has actually done and why it has been as effective as possible under the circumstances.

Better Markets continues its work to advocate for reforms to protect retail investors after the GameStop Trading Frenzy, including supporting SEC proposals on issues like Payment for Order Flow (PFOF).

The only thing standing between a failing bank and a taxpayer-funded bailout is bank capital. Better capitalized banks are more capable of withstanding an economic downturn and continuing to lend.

That’s why we called on policymakers and regulators to implement higher capital requirements in order to better protect Main Street and our economy. 

Over the course of the year, Better Markets published a number of reports in our Shadow Banking Series, highlighting the largely unregulated nonbanking sector and the systemic risk they pose to our larger financial system.

Better Markets filed a comment letter urging the SEC to enhance investor protections for in initial public offerings by special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”).

Recognizing how important and influential Better Markets is (having participated in more than 125 rulemakings at the CFTC alone), FTX offered Better Markets “$1 million or more,” but only if we supported its Application at the CFTC – basically a bribe.  Even though that is more than 25% of our annual budget, we refused to sell out and take FTX’s money, and we continued to aggressively oppose them, including in a face-to-face meeting with Sam Bankman Fried and his team of lobbyists. Dennis Kelleher discussed FTX’s attempted bribe and Better Markets’ work on crypto in the Bloomberg Documentary “Ruin.” 

Whereas most attention in 2022 was focused on the Federal Reserve’s efforts to tackle inflation, Better Markets was highlighting the big missing story on how the Fed’s actions created significant risks in the banking system, that ultimately contributed to the regional banking crisis in the spring of 2023. These risks played a sizeable role in Silicon Valley Bank’s failure.

Better Markets published a fact sheet outlining how the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) has failed and what steps banking regulators must take to ensure minority communities get equal access to credit.

Public Citizen, joined by Better Markets and the Consumer Federation of America, filed an amicus brief in the en banc proceedings. Our brief explained the troubling and growing trend among companies of using their corporate bylaws as a shield to avoid accountability under federal securities law and other federal statutes, and it explained why this outcome is inconsistent with the provisions of the Securities Exchange Act. Our brief also highlighted the importance of these uniquely important shareholder “derivative” suits, in which shareholders sue on behalf of companies that have been harmed by mismanagement.

The Better Markets team authored an extensive law review article in the Western New England Law Review where we argued that Wall Street and finance more generally can and should be democratized, but not through predatory tactics like Gamification.

Better Markets opposed Crypto-kingpin FTX’s pending application before the CFTC, highlighting serious concerns.

Better Markets joined the Consumer Federation of America in filing an amicus brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to reverse a decision in the district court that ruled that false statements or other forms of deception are necessary elements of a claim of market manipulation.

Better Markets pushed regulators to stop further consolidation among banks to protect consumers by calling upon the Department Justice to work with the Banking Agencies and strengthen the Bank Merger Review Guidelines. 

Better Markets advocated for excessive compensation reform, supporting the SEC’s efforts to claw back excessive CEO compensation and to prevent the next Financial Crisis.

Dennis Kelleher partnered with Dedrick Asante Muhammad, President of the Joint Center and Better Markets board member, to highlight the urgent need for financial market regulators to address racial economic inequality and lay out steps to tackle these persisting issues in an op-ed in the American Banker. 

In the Fact Sheet: Financial Risks Related to Climate Change Must Be Addressed—Republicans, Democrats, Wall Street Banks, Finance Leaders Agree, we highlighted the widespread, mainstream consensus from Washington to Wall Street and beyond that climate change poses serious and dangerous risks to the financial system and the economy.

Better Markets is heavily featured in the HBO documentary “Gaming Wall Street” on the GameStop trading frenzy and Wall Street’s Influence over policymaking.

Better Markets provided insights on how the SEC could work towards improving racial economic inequality through the regulation of securities.

Better Markets laid out an ambitious yet achievable agenda for the Fed’s next Vice Chair of Supervision, identifying key objectives related to enforcement, promoting greater resiliency for our financial system, and greater resiliency of our financial system, and redirecting the banking system so that it works for all Americans.

Better Markets joined an amicus brief in Hughes v Northwestern University to help protect Americans’ retirement savings.

We published our report Addressing Racial Economic Inequality Through the Banking System, identifying steps the Federal Reserve and other federal banking regulatory agencies must take to begin to level the playing field and address economic inequality and discrimination in the banking sector.

In a white paper titled, What is ESG and Why is it So Important?, Better Markets explored the impact of climate change on the financial system, the prospects for competition in a decarbonized economy, and other ESG issues.

We filed an amicus brief in Citadel v SEC, supporting the SEC’s approval of a new order type by IEX that can help protect millions of Americans from high frequency traders.

From the beginning of the GameStop trading frenzy, Better Markets provided insights into how these events occurred, the key players, and many of the topics, terms, and activities relevant to these happenings. The team worked tirelessly to make sure our markets are safe for retail investors, not just the special interests on Wall Street.

In a Financial Times op-ed, Dennis Kelleher laid out a bold agenda for the new SEC Chair “to protect investors; facilitate capital formation; promote fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and strengthen financial system resilience and stability.” 

Better Markets calls for a CFTC investigation into the unprecedented volatility and negative prices in a benchmark contract for oil and asks the CFTC to review manipulative practices involving certain order types.  The CFTC subsequently announces that investigation and the completion of initial findings.  The media uncovers alleged manipulative practices based, in part, on Better Markets’ analysis. 

Better Markets secures a significant victory from the CFTC, which follows our call for a prohibition on the anti-competitive and anti-market practice called “post-trade name give-up.”  That CFTC action was a critical step towards increased competition in the dealer-dominated derivatives markets.

Better Markets continues its ongoing regulatory and legal work and responds to the human, economic and financial crises of the coronavirus. 

Better Markets issues a report examining the important financial cases on the Supreme Court’s docket in the year ahead and forecasting the ways in which a Justice Amy Coney Barrett will further align the Court with corporations and businesses and against consumers and investors seeking remedies for fraud and abuse in the financial markets.

In a letter to SEC Chair Jay Clayton, Better Markets and dozens of other public interest groups urge the SEC to institute new disclosure requirements to allow investors and the public to analyze how companies are acting to protect workers, prevent the spread of the virus, and responsibly use any federal aid they receive. 

In an op-ed for CNN, Co-founder, President and CEO Dennis Kelleher outlines the need for a cabinet-level Department of Economic Security to fulfill a need parallel to the Federal Reserve, which effectively looks after the interests of Wall Street and wealthy shareholders.

Better Markets speaks out against embedded racism in U.S. social and political systems, the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus pandemic on minorities and the role the financial system and financial industry have played in perpetuating those inequities. It issues a statement on the murder of George Floyd and racism. 

Better Markets holds a virtual conference with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) to discuss the current state of financial reform and releases a report on “Protecting Main Street from President trump’s Dangerous Deregulation.”

On July 21, the 10th anniversary of Dodd-Frank Act, Better Markets releases two reports and holds a virtual webinar with remarks from former President Barack Obama, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Sen. Chris Dodd and former Rep. Barney Frank giving remarks. C-SPAN carried the event.

Better Markets launches TRACER or Tracker of Regulatory Agencies Coronavirus Emergency Responses to catalogue every coronavirus-related action taken by the financial regulatory agencies. 

The Supreme Court issues a ruling in Liu v SEC upholding the SEC’s right to obtain disgorgement from those who violate the securities laws and defraud investors. Better Markets filed a joint amicus brief with the Center for Responsible Lending and the National Consumer Law Center defending the SEC’s position.

The Fourth Circuit sides with Better Markets, holding that brokers can be held accountable in arbitration for violating their own rulebook in Interactive Brokers LLC v. Saroop. The decision reflects a core argument that Better Markets advanced in its 2019 amicus brief.  

The Hill publishes an op-ed by Better Markets: CFPB is looking out for financial predators instead of Main Street. 

The New Secretary General for the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision visits Better Markets and discusses U.S. and global financial reform efforts past, present and future.

Better Markets releases another special report on the Supreme Court that includes an update on cases involving financial and economic issues for the 2018-2019 Supreme Court term and a look ahead to 2019-2020.

Co-founder, President and CEO Dennis Kelleher testifies at a key Senate hearing in which he reminds lawmakers that America’s top five gigantic, derivative-dealing banks must be properly regulated, serve Main Street instead of threatening it, and never again get taxpayer bailouts.

Better Markets releases a special report on the six biggest bailed-out banks, their RAP sheets and their ongoing crime spree.

Better Markets releases a special report, Goldman Sachs’ 1MDB “Four Monkeys” Defense and CEO Solomon’s Golden Opportunity, detailing the misconduct of Goldman Sachs and the road ahead for the big bank.

Better Markets leads a coalition of public interest organizations in fighting extreme deregulatory rollbacks of the Volcker Rule and successfully convinces the CFTC to abandon a proposal that would have exempted some derivatives dealers from direct federal oversight and many of the Dodd-Frank Act’s reforms. 

Better Markets releases the first in a series of reports on the important role of the Supreme Court in the financial lives of all Americans, this one entitled “A Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh: Good for Corporations, Bad for Your Wallet.”

“Tailspin: The People and Forces Behind America’s Fifty-Year Fall—and Those Fighting to Reverse It,” a best-selling book by author Steven Brill, features comments by Co-founder, President and CEO Dennis Kelleher as well as a section on Better Markets’ forceful advocacy in the public interest. 

Co-founder, President and CEO Dennis Kelleher moderates a panel discussion with Paul Volcker, who told Better Markets in a conversation before he passed away in 2019: “Now it is up to you to carry on the battle.” 

Better Markets compares the endless “rightsizing” or “tweaking” of rules by the Trump administration as “death by 1,000 cuts” in a blog post titled: A Lot of Small Deregulation Can Add Up To Significant Rollbacks.

Research from Better Markets finds a majority of American voters want to back candidates who will rein in Wall Street as part of their economic agenda.

Better Market files a comment letter opposing the SEC’s efforts to weaken its whistleblower protection program.

Better Markets releases an op-ed that calls on the Supreme Court to hold securities fraudsters accountable in a key case before the Court: Lorenzo v. SEC.

As a longtime and ongoing advocate for financial consumers and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Better Markets publishes an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times discussing Why Every American Should Want a Strong CFPB.  

Better Markets sends a letter to Chairman Crapo and Ranking Member Brown of the Senate Banking Committee detailing “the big lie”: the baseless claim that financial regulation and economic growth are mutually exclusive. That was and remains false; indeed, effective financial regulation provides the indispensable foundation for economic growth.

Better Markets’ engages in substantial advocacy around Wells Fargo’s widespread illegal sales practices, including releasing a fact sheet detailing the scope and scale of those activities as well as an op-ed, report and other materials. Better Markets is the first to call for the firing of Wells Fargo’s CEO and board, which happens subsequently to varying degrees

Better Markets participates in a Treasury Department roundtable meeting on the President’s Executive Order with a focus on FSOC’s unique role to look for emerging systemic risks to the financial system. 

Citing profound and unmanageable conflicts of interest, Better Markets goes to court to disqualify the Department of Justice from representing FSOC in the MetLife v. FSOC case.  

Better Markets files one in a series of amicus briefs in the federal district and appellate courts defending the Department of Labor’s strong fiduciary duty rule protecting retirement savers from adviser conflicts of interest that siphon away tens of billions of dollars a year, this one a joint brief in the D.C. District Court in National Assoc. for Fixed Annuities v. Perez, leading to a victory on the merits.

Better Markets launches what ends up being a multi-year advocacy effort to compel the SEC to create a Consolidated Audit Trail that would enable the SEC to punish predatory market practices and strengthen market integrity.  

Better Markets files an amicus brief in the D.C. Circuit in MetLife Inc. v. Financial Stability Oversight Council defending the designation of MetLife by the Financial Stability Oversight Counsel as a potential threat to financial stability and seeking to preserve the FSOC’s critically important designation authority designed to help prevent future crises and bailouts.

Securities Specialist and Legal Director Stephen Hall testifies before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs’ Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment, at a hearing entitled “Improving Communities’ and Businesses’ Access to Capital and Economic Development.”

The CFTC finalizes its cross-border margin rule, a significant example of Better Markets’ successful advocacy to stop global derivatives dealers from searching for loopholes around the globe for their high-risk trading.

Better Markets issues a policy brief entitled “Stopping Wall Street’s Derivatives Dealers Club,” which proposes concrete solutions to some of the biggest challenges remaining in the derivatives markets. 

Better Markets exposes a study portrayed by the industry as Harvard research that was in fact drafted by a former JPMorgan Chase officer and issues a fact sheet that dismantles the error-laden document.  

Better Markets moves to intervene in MetLife’s challenge to its designation by the Financial Stability Oversight Counsel as a potential threat to financial stability, for the purpose of unsealing the record, most of which is hidden from public view. That successful motion ultimately leads to a strong victory in the D.C. Circuit. See MetLife, Inc. v. Financial Stability Oversight Counsel, 865 F.3d 661 (D.C. Cir. 2017).  

Better Markets joins other leading organizations at an AARP event where President Obama announces his support for an updated fiduciary duty rule that would require all advisers who provides retirement investment advice to act solely in the best interests of their clients.

Better Markets, along with six other organizations (AARP; AFL-CIO; American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; Americans for Financial Reform; Consumer Federation of America; and Pension Rights Center) announce the “Save Our Retirement” campaign and the launch of a new website dedicated to educating the public and mobilizing support for the Department of Labor’s fiduciary duty rule that requires financial advisers to act solely in the best interest of their clients saving for retirement. 

In conjunction with the event, Better Markets releases a report titled The Cost of the Crisis, $20 Trillion and Counting, detailing how the 2008 financial crash and the economic collapse it caused cost the United States more than $20 trillion. 

Better Markets holds an event at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., to mark the fifth anniversary of President Obama signing the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform and Consumer Protection Act on July 21, 2010. C-SPAN covers the event which features remarks by former Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew and a conversation with Sen. Chris Dodd (Ct.) and former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass), moderated by then-Washington Post financial reporter Ylan Mui.

Better Markets files an amicus brief in the D.C. Circuit defending the risk retention rule under the Dodd-Frank Act that requires the sponsors of complex securitized investments to retain some of the risks—or “skin the game”—to reduce systemic risk.  See Loan Syndication & Trading Assoc. v. SEC.

Dennis Kelleher testifies before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce subcommittee at a hearing titled, “Restricting Access to Financial Advice: Evaluating the Costs and Consequences for Working Families.” Kelleher emphasizes that conflicts of interest among financial advisers are causing massive harm to American retirees. 

Dennis Kelleher testifies after Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew in March 2015 before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs at a hearing entitled “FSOC Accountability: Nonbank Designations.” Better Markets’ materials regarding FSOC can be found here. 

Co-founder, President and CEO Dennis Kelleher examines the impact of the Dodd-Frank legislation on the U.S. banking industry on Bloomberg’s “In The Loop.”

Better Markets continues to push regulators and policy makers to take action to stop predatory High Frequency Traders, which rip off investors and retirees and destroy confidence in our markets.

Better Markets responds to President Obama’s recognition for further action to reign in Wall Street with a list of actions the administration can take to better protect taxpayers, American families and the economy from falling victim to Wall Street’s recklessness. 

As part of its extensive advocacy for strong cross-border regulation, Better Markets files an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in the case of Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association v. CFTC, supporting the CFTC’s cross-border rules and guidance against a slew of attacks, including those based on cost-benefit analysis. Better Markets’ cross border materials are collected here. 

When the SEC followed the sweetheart settlement template it established when it settled with Goldman Sachs for its Abacus CDO, Better Markets litigated in the SEC v. Citigroup case in the District and Appeal Courts. As with the lawsuit regarding the settlement with JPMorgan Chase, Better Markets again argued for courts to independently review these backroom deals, which were often tainted by pre- and/or post-industry employment. While the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected the SEC’s extreme position that courts are no more than a rubber stamp for whatever the SEC does, the decision failed to empower courts to fulfill a meaningful and effective oversight role. 

Better Markets files a lawsuit against the Department of Justice and Attorney General Eric Holder to challenge the $13 billion sweetheart settlement with JPMorgan Chase & Co for its years of illegal conduct inflating the subprime mortgage bubble and fueling the 2008 financial crash.

Better Markets files a comment letter urging the SEC to adopt comprehensive reforms to address the de-stabilizing threat of runs on money market funds, a persistent danger that surfaced again in March this year as the Coronavirus shook the financial markets.

Co-founder, President and CEO Dennis Kelleher discusses the Volcker Rule and the need to change Wall Street’s risk-taking culture on PBS NewsHour.

Better Markets files a joint amicus brief in the D.C. Circuit defending an important CFTC rule enhancing oversight of the swaps markets, in Investment Company Institute & Chamber of Commerce v. CFTC. The brief advances arguments on cost-benefits analysis that the court embraces in its decision on the merits upholding the rule. See Inv. Co. Inst. v. U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Comm’n, 720 F. 3d 370, 379 (D.C. Cir. 2013).

As part of a comprehensive, multi-agency advocacy program, Better Markets meets with SEC Chair Mary Jo While and staff to advocate for a strong Volcker Rule and discuss how it can be effectively implemented. Better Markets’ Volcker Rule materials are collected here.

Co-founder, President and CEO Dennis Kelleher discusses the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Standard and Poor’s rating agency on CNBC Worldwide Exchange. 

Co-founder, President and CEO Dennis Kelleher testifies before the Senate Agriculture Committee on “Reauthorization of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission,” explaining the dangers of the unregulated and underregulated derivatives markets that led to the 2008 financial crisis.

Co-founder, President and CEO Dennis Kelleher testifies before Congress that rising gas prices are closely related to excessive speculation in the U.S. derivatives markets by Wall Street banks and other firms.  

Better Markets sends a letter to the Senate Banking Committee urging that community banks be treated differently than Wall Street’s too-big-to-fail banks. 

Better Markets testifies to the Senate Banking Committee on computerized trading, raising early concerns about the risks associated with automated trading and the effects that predatory trading has on U.S. securities markets. 

Frontline features Mr. Kelleher in its award-winning documentary “Money, Power and Wall Street” and PBS also highlights Mr. Kelleher and Better Markets’ work in  “Breaking the Banks.”

The New York Times profiles Co-founder, President and CEO Dennis Kelleher in an article titled “Facing Down the Bankers” and refers to him as “one of the most powerful lobbyists on financial reform.” 

Co-founder, President and CEO Dennis Kelleher testifies before the House Financial Services Committee in a hearing entitled “Examining the Impact of the Volcker Rule on Markets, Businesses, Investors and Job Creation, Part II.”

Better Markets files the first of many amicus briefs, this one in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, defending the CFTC’s position limits rule against industry’s attack on cost-benefit analysis grounds, in International Swaps & Derivatives Association v. CFTC.

Better Markets files a motion with the D.C. Circuit seeking an enhanced role as an amicus to argue for the public interest during review of the weak and opaque settlement agreement between the SEC and Citigroup for the bank’s role in the financial crisis. Soon thereafter, and in light of Better Markets’ arguments, the court orders that independent counsel be appointed to represent the public interest in the case on appeal. SEC v. Citigroup Global Markets Inc., No. 11-5227-cv (per curiam opinion and order) (2d Cir. Mar. 15, 2012)  

Better Markets releases a report that estimates the cost of the 2008-2009 financial crisis to be more than $12.8 trillion during an event at the National Press Club.  

Better Markets publishes the trailblazing and widely influential report “Setting the Record Straight on Cost Benefit Analysis and Financial Reform at the SEC.” It counters the industry’s self-interested, one-sided demands for a one-size-fits-all, quantitative and onerous cost-benefit analysis in the rulemaking process. This was little more than “industry cost only analysis” and was a primary club that the industry used against the Dodd-Frank Act. At the time, the financial industry’s analysis was unrebutted and had been gaining traction in the courts and Congress. Better Markets’ robust report rebutted those arguments and showed that the industry’s claims were baseless on both legal and policy grounds.  

In an interview with CNBC, Better Markets Chair Mike Masters explains the importance of limiting excessive speculation affecting commodities markets as 17 senators write to the CFTC calling for a plan to impose position limits in the energy futures markets.  

The CFTC adopts some of Better Markets’ positions arguing for greater transparency in its final rule establishing a framework for derivatives clearing organizations.

Better Markets releases one of its first reports: Commodity Index Traders and Boom/Bust in Commodities Prices on how commodity price volatility impacts American families through increased prices for food, fuel and clothing. This is a critical early effort in our 10-year fight to enact meaningful limits on speculation in the derivatives markets, which adversely affects the price of everything from gasoline to a loaf of bread to babies’ toys.  

In its first final Dodd-Frank rulemakings, the CFTC adopts some of Better Markets’ calls for improved risk management and greater transparency, marking the first of many Better Markets victories at the agency.

Stephen Hall, formerly senior counsel to the Committee on Financial Services of the U.S. House of Representatives, joins Better Markets as securities specialist and later becomes legal director as well. As of 2024, Mr. Hall is one of Better Markets’ longest serving employees along with Co-founder, President and CEO Dennis Kelleher.

Better Markets participates in a symposium in Washington, D.C., on the economic impact of the Dodd-Frank Act.

Better Markets launches a proactive communications strategy that employs early-use of social media, including Twitter (@BetterMarkets) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BetterMarkets/), to provide substantive information to the press and other constituencies, issue rapid responses to rebut industry spin and disinformation and highlight industry and regulatory activities.

Co-founder and Chair Mike Masters talks with welling@weeden about the impetus to launch Better Markets.

Better Markets files its first comment letters, launches a blog, hires its first employees and meets with staff at the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and other regulatory agencies.

Better Markets officially launches Oct. 1 and sets up headquarters on K Street in Washington, D.C.—just blocks from the White House, Congress, the federal courts and the financial regulatory agencies—and begins meeting with regulators and drafting comment letters. The organization’s founding is just months after the July 2010 passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.