Even as the new House GOP majority is taking aim at the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act by pulling at the agencies’ purse strings, financial interests continue to jockey for favor, hiring key lobbying firms.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been 35 new registrations for entities expecting to lobby on financial institutions/investments/securities—more than one per day. This is in addition to the clients who have ongoing contracts with lobbying firms--last year alone the financial sector reported spending a whopping $359 million on lobbying.
Among the firms grabbing new contracts is the ...
Continue readingFinancial public information slow in coming
Six months old today, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act provided vast new powers for federal regulators... View Article
Continue readingInformation scarce on bids for failed banks
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is making less information available to the public about how it is dealing with the rising number of bank failures in 2010. Over the last year, the agency has failed to post a complete list of bids on 41 percent of the deals it makes with other banks to take over failing institutions--and what information it does provide is more limited than before.
Before May 2009, the FDIC would provide, upon request, the names of all entities placing bids on failed banks and how much each of them bid for the bank in question ...
Continue readingKey GOP lawmaker wants to stop financial regulations
Reuters reports that Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, the incoming chairman of the Financial Services Oversight and Investigations subcommittee, wants to delay implementation of the new financial reform law for a year "so regulators have more time to understand the impact of rules they are writing."
What's missing from the story, however, is how much money Neugebauer has collected from the financial sector for his election campaigns--the very folks who might be interested in such a delay. In his most recent race he got more than $418,000, dwarfing contributions he received from other sectors, according to the Center for ...
Continue readingBanking interests strive to get regulations written their way
New meeting records disclosed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) last week show that corporate banking interests, many of which lobbied on the Dodd-Frank Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, continue to weigh in on its implementation by the agency.
On November 9, the same day the agency issued new proposed rules changing the way banks are assessed fees for the exhausted deposit insurance fund, agency officials met with executives from eight banks, insurance companies, trade associations, and law firms on the issue. Institutions represented included the Financial Services Roundtable, Regions Bank, Hartford Financial, and State Street ...
Continue readingSmall banks continue lobbying winning streak at FDIC
When the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation proposed new rules in early November that would hit big banks harder than small ones when assessing fees for the exhausted deposit insurance fund, community bankers--who had aggressively lobbied first Congress and then in recent months the independent agency--declared victory.
"The FDIC today took an important step in leveling the playing field for the nation's community banks," said Jim McPhee, chairman of the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) in a statement at the time. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) meeting logs show that Independent Community Bankers of America representatives met four times with agency officials since August, when the agency first put meeting records on-line in a bid to increase transparency.
Continue readingSwing State Confidential: Colorado–the Wild Wild West
Over the last several weeks, the Colorado Senate race became the poster race of the outrageous amounts of money pouring... View Article
Continue readingSwing State Confidential: Colorado–The Day Before
Denver, Colorado…With the Senate race here considered closest in the nation, local officials are bracing for the possibility of needing... View Article
Continue readingSwing State Diary: Colorado–Home Stretch
Denver, Colorado…With five days to go before Election Day, outside spending on Colorado’s Senate race is now over $30 million,... View Article
Continue readingSwing State Confidential: Colorado–more American Crossroads
Denver, Colorado…Today’s yield of political ads delivered along with a half hour of morning news (KDVR FOX 31) includes a... View Article
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