For over 10 years, Better Markets has had a significant impact on financial reform – from re-shaping the political discourse to strengthening many parts of the Dodd-Frank rule-making process.
During the past 10 years, Better Markets has had a significant impact on financial reform – from re-shaping the political discourse to strengthening many parts of the Dodd-Frank rule-making process. We’ve become a potent counterweight to the industry as the rules of financial reform are being drafted and challenged, filing more than 300 comment letters so that agencies finalize the strongest possible safeguards to protect the American people from another financial crash.
Better Markets led the charge against the industry attack on the proposed Volcker Rule limiting gambling by the big banks on Wall Street, meeting with regulators, testifying before Congress, advocating abroad, and ultimately protecting the rule from being killed.
The widespread abuse and exploitation of financial consumers causes massive harm and contributes to economic injustice, as predators often target under-privileged communities. Financial fraud also contributes to financial instability and crisis, as illustrated vividly during the 2008 crash. It served as a key ingredient of the 2008 crisis, as millions of fraudulent mortgages and other investment products provided the fuel for a near-total economic meltdown. While there were many consumer protection laws on the books, they were largely unenforced, neglected, or ignored by the financial regulatory agencies, particularly the Federal Reserve, but also the OCC and others. The Dodd-Frank Act created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) to correct those failures and ensure that protecting consumers from unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices was the only priority for a federal agency. Better Markets fights to ensure financial consumers are protected by analyzing and commenting on the CFPB’s rule proposals—usually to counter fierce opposition from industry—and pushing for strong enforcement. The CFPB has shown what a dedicated regulator can accomplish for consumers by returning more than $12 billion to more than 27 million Americans ripped off by financial institutions and predators.
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