A coalition of banks, credit unions, and electronic payment networks have hired a vast team of lobbyists that includes 118... View Article
Continue readingGroups Opposing Debit Card Rule Have PAC, Lobby Support
In the first two months of 2011 groups associated with a coalition opposing the implementation of new rules for debit... View Article
Continue readingPoised to make decision on regulating foreign swaps, Geithner meets with banks wanting exemption
In February, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met with the CEO and two top-level executives from the London-based bank HSBC to discuss the issue of foreign exchange swaps.
The bank, which has a thriving foreign exchange business, wants Geithner to exempt such swaps from new rules designed to bring transparency to the derivatives market. Under the Dodd-Frank financial law, Geithner was given authority to make this decision, which he is expected to announce any day.
Amounting in the trillions of dollars per day, foreign exchange swaps are used in business to hedge bets on transactions involving different currencies. Typically, two parties ...
Continue readingNew federal insurance office has vast power to collect data
Over a year since the passage of the Dodd-Frank financial law, the new Federal Insurance Office, which has broad authority to collect data from the $934 billion industry, finally has a director.
Michael McRaith, the newly appointed head, is currently director of the Illinois Department of Insurance. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced the appointment last week.
While the insurance industry, which is regulated at the state level, largely escaped the reach of the new financial law. The one exception was the creation of the new office within the Treasury Department.
While not a regulatory body, the office will advise the ...
Continue readingBig business seeks exemption from derivatives rules
Some of Washington’s most powerful trade associations and big corporations are pushing to get an exemption from derivatives regulations mandated by the Dodd-Frank financial law—and House Republicans are planning to introduce legislation to do just that.
Under the umbrella of an ad hoc coalition, known as the Coalition for Derivatives End-Users, which is run by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Business Roundtable, among others, the coalition first weighed in during the debate over the financial law.
Since the law’s passage, the coalition has also been presenting its case with ...
Continue readingAnother Revolving Door Problem
Most of our focus here at Sunlight on the revolving door relates to former government officials and lawmakers who leave... View Article
Continue readingGeithner meets with Obama campaign fundraiser
Penny Pritzker, who served as President Obama’s finance chair during his 2008 campaign and whose name was mentioned as a possible U.S. Commerce Secretary, met with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and several other top government heavyweights to discuss Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs), according to meeting logs released by the agency this week.
In 2008, Pritzker who has a stake in several real estate and hotel businesses across the country, came under scrutiny for her role in a failed bank that made subprime loans in the leadup to the financial crisis. Pritzker said at the time that the bank ...
Continue readingChamber of Commerce meets with CFTC chairman
Yesterday a lobbyist and executives representing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has criticized the whistleblower provisions in the Dodd-Frank financial law, met with Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), to discuss the issue.
Under the new law, the CFTC is given the authority to award whistleblowers 10 to 30 percent of the amount recovered when information they provide leads to an enforcement action yielding sanctions of $1 million or more. They can also file for relief if they face retaliation for their disclosures.
"Put simply, the proposed rule creates a set of ...
Continue readingTop financial regulators meets with industry leaders, lobbyists
Elizabeth Warren, who has been charged with setting up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, reported more meetings with individuals outside the government in December than any other Treasury official working on implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial law.
Warren, who also played an advisory role to the bank bailout oversight committee, reported 15 such meetings with a total of 204 different individuals representing a wide range of interests, from Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, to representatives of financial trade associations, to those from a long list of consumer groups, such as Consumer Federation of America and the Center ...
Continue readingFinancial reform Sunlight Live on Wednesday
On Wednesday morning, Sunlight Live will continue its coverage of financial reform as the House Finance Committee convenes for a... View Article
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