Blog
The State of Financial Regulation
President Trump will deliver his inaugural State of the Union address next week, where he will outline the administration’s agenda for the coming year. Here…
Blog
A New Day at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
According to Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will now stick to enforcing consumer protection laws as written, but not attempt go beyond that…
Blog
Durbin Amendment Update: No More Free Checking for the Poor
The Durbin Amendment strikes again. Today brings further evidence that the little-known amendment authored by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), which imposed price controls on…
Blog
Tax Reform Outperforms Government Programs on Community Investment
Tax reform is the gift that keeps on giving. Americans for Tax Reform has documented the ever-growing list of companies providing pay raises, bonuses, 401(k)…
JD Supra
Overturning the CFPB’s Final Payday Loan Rule by Reopening Rulemaking or CRA Resolution
JD Supra covers developments of the CFPB’s payday loan rule and Daniel Press’ “7 Reasons to Oppose the Federal Payday Loan Rule.” On December 1, 2018,…
The National Law Review
Overturning the CFPB’s Final Payday Loan Rule by Reopening Rulemaking or CRA Resolution
The National Law Review discusses the various vehicles that could be used to repeal the CFPB’s small-dollar loan rule. On December 1, 2018, three…
Blog
The White House Can Save the Small-Dollar Loan Industry
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's small dollar loan rule should be retracted on Paperwork Reduction Act violations alone. …
USA Today
Federal Payday Lending Rule Could Face Repeal Amid New Battle
USA Today covers the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s decision to delay the small-dollar loan rule. Consumer advocates and business groups are battling anew over…
American Banker
Not So Fast: CFPB Effort to Reopen Payday Rule Faces Hurdles
American Banker covers the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s decision to delay the small-dollar loan rule. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau faces significant obstacles in…
The Hill
New CFPB Director Puts Target on Payday Loan Rules
The Hill covers the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s decision to delay the small-dollar loan rule. The new leaders of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau…
Blog
Taming the Beast: Reform Ideas for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s complicated, one-size-fits-all rules with high compliance costs favor large banks with armies of lawyers while restricting the working poor’s access…
Blog
7 Reasons to Oppose the Federal Payday Loan Rule
Congress should use the Congressional Review Act to overturn the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's small dollar loan rule.
News Release
Report: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Payday Loan Rule Hurts the Working Poor
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rule against small dollar loans will hurt the working poor most, warns a new report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Study
How the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Payday Loan Rule Hurts the Working Poor
View Full Document as PDF Ariane is a 22-year-old single mother from Oakland, California. Working a low-wage job, she gets by paycheck…
Reason
The Senate’s Rejection of Export-Import Bank Critic Shows How Entrenched Crony Capitalism Is in Washington
Reason covers the rejection of Export-Import bank nominee Scott Garrett. The Senate Banking Committee voted 10–13 yesterday to reject former New Jersey Rep. Scott Garrett…
Blog
House Takes Lead on Bank Reform, Senate Should Follow
The House of Representatives has passed a significant piece of financial legislation, H.R. 3312, the “Systemic Risk Designation Improvement Act.”…
Blog
Ex-Im Nominee Scott Garrett Rejected, Swamp Claims Another Victim
Appointing Scott Garret to lead the Export-Import Bank should have been an area of broad agreement between the parties.
News Release
CEI Supports HR 3312’s Efforts to Restore Main Street Banks
Competitive Enterprise Institute Policy Analyst Daniel Press offered the following statement on the proposed H.R. 3312, the Systemic Risk Designation Improvement Act: “Subjecting…
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
What Should Direct Our Economy: The Invisible Hand or the Iron Fist?
You probably heard: a recent poll found that nearly half of American millennials would rather live under socialism than capitalism. To anyone old enough to remember…
Bloomberg BNA
House Bid to Ax Payday Rule Kicks Off With Bipartisan Support
Bloomberg BNA covers introduced legislation that would block the CFPB’s payday lending rule. A House resolution to repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s small-dollar…
CNBC
New House Bill Would Kill Consumer Watchdog Payday Loan Rule
CNBC covers the blockage of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s payday loan rule. Congress has it in for consumer protections enacted by the Consumer Financial…
News Release
House Democrats and Republicans Lead Crucial Effort to Stop Unfair CFPB Payday Loan Rule
A group of House Republicans and Democrats today introduced legislation under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to block a controversial new rule issued by the…
Blog
Big Changes Needed to Senate’s Financial Reform Bill
While the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act is a good first step, Republicans must push for more dramatic reform.
Blog
Overturn CFPB’s Payday Loan Rule to Protect Vulnerable Consumers
Members of Congress must demonstrate the courage to stand up for consumers and against the rogue agency.
News Release
Report: Dodd-Frank Volcker Rule Punishes Main Street
Banking restrictions imposed by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law have caused big problems for banks nationwide, a new report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Study
The Case against the Volcker Rule
View Full Document as PDF The 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act has severely restricted business and consumer access…
Blog
What Should Congress Do About the Volcker Rule?
The Volcker Rule is a Dodd-Frank regulation that prohibits federally insured banks from engaging in “proprietary trading,” which is trading with their own capital. It…
Blog
Under New Leadership, What is the Future of the CFPB’s Payday Loan Rule?
In the current uncertainty surrounding the future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), several issues require urgent attention. While the most pressing may…
The Hill
Why Are We Still Regulating Main Street Like Wall Street?
It’s no secret that banks across America aren’t doing well under the Dodd-Frank Act, Congress’s response to the 2008 financial crisis. Since Dodd-Frank’s enactment in 2010,…
Blog
Tear Down the Wall Between Banking and Commerce
The separation of commerce and banking has little relevance in the 21st century.
Blog
Fed Confirms Government Regulation Is Not the Answer to Equifax Data Breach
More regulation will not help protect the financial system against cyber attacks, such as the Equifax hack.
RealClear Markets
Undoing President Obama’s Damage Will Take Time
RealClear Markets covers the Systemic Risk Designation Improvement Act of 2017. Indeed, another reason to oppose new government undertakings is that each creates groups…
The Washington Examiner
Payday-Loan Borrowers Need Protection from the Poorly-Named Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
In an epic, down to the wire vote last week Congressional Republicans narrowly overturned a regulation that would have enriched lawyers at the expense of…
Blog
Pressure Grows to Reform Bank SIFI Designations
What makes a bank risky? While a simple question, the answer is anything but. As the 2008 crisis proved, managing risks in the financial system…
Blog
Why Congress Should Block the CFPB Payday Loan Rule
Republicans have been looking for a political win for a while. They finally got one this week by overturning the Consumer Financial Protection…
Blog
Will New Zealand Forget the Benefits of Economic Freedom?
As an Australian, there are two things I have always admired about New Zealand—their remarkable national rugby team and their stunning embrace of…
Blog
Senate Set to Vote to Block CFPB’s Harmful Arbitration Rule
After months of speculation, the Senate will today vote to block the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) rule banning financial institutions from including arbitration clauses…
Blog
Government Regulation is Not the Answer to the Equifax Hack
The recent Equifax hack has placed an enormous amount of pressure on legislators to further regulate the credit-reporting industry. While such a response may be…
Intercollegiate Review
Licensed to Death: How One Reform Could Empower Americans and Boost Our Economy
Economic freedom—the ability of individuals to exchange voluntarily without government interference—is the greatest driver of prosperity the world has ever seen. Over the past three…
Blog
Congress Should Fix Fintech Lending Model
The House Financial Services Committee marked up a whopping 22 bills last week. While many are noteworthy, such as ending Operation Choke Point, repealing…
U.S. News & World Report
Cutting Off Consumers
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau just released a new rule against payday loans, but instead of helping consumers avoid some pitfalls of borrowing, it will…
Blog
Financial Transactions Tax Not the Answer for Africa
French President Emmanuel Macron is advocating for a Europe-wide tax on financial transactions to fund more foreign aid for Africa.
Blog
Congress Should Roll Back New Payday Loan Rule
The hysteria in Washington around the release of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s final short-term, small-dollar loan rule has been immense.
Blog
New Research, Same Story: Government Housing Policy Doesn’t Work
The Urban Institute today published an updated report, titled Nine Charts about Wealth Inequality in America. As part of the project, the authors highlight…
Blog
Bank Regulatory Relief in Time for White House ‘Deregulation Day’
Happy Deregulation Day! Today, the Trump administration is celebrating the benefits of an America liberated from red tape. As I mentioned in a blog…
Blog
What White House ‘Deregulation Day’ Can Do for Finance and Banking
On Monday the Trump Administration is launching the first ever Deregulation Day, highlighting the benefits of an America liberated from bureaucracy.
Blog
Senate Introduces Regulatory Relief for Regional Banks
Removing burdensome restrictions on regional and community banks will ensure financial stability while helping local communities prosper.
Blog
Nine Years on from the Financial Crisis and We’re No Safer
The real cause of the 2007-08 financial crisis was overwhelmingly the product of government intervention.
Foundation for Economic Education
Economic Freedom Is the Best Weapon Against Poverty
Over the past few decades, hundreds of millions of people have risen out of poverty to grow into a powerful global middle class. This unprecedented…
Blog
CEI Comments: Volcker Rule Has Failed to Make Financial System More Stable
CEI submitted comments on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) proposed revision to the Volcker Rule, a federal regulation that bans…
Blog
Might Australian Financial Regulators Finally Embrace Greater Competition?
Over the past few weeks, I have been rather critical of the state of financial regulation in Australia. A banking scandal earlier this month revealed…
Blog
Human Freedom Is Key to African Prosperity
Earlier this week at a presentation to the Cato Institute, authors Greg Mills, Jeffrey Herbst, Olusegun Obasanjo, and Dickie Davis, discussed their new book…
Blog
Debit Cards Fee Limits Have Big Impact on Payday Loans and Overdraft Charges
Seven years on from the inception of the Durbin Amendment, it has pushed nearly a million consumers out of formal financial services by raising the…
Blog
Poll: Americans Don’t Trust Big Bank Regulators
Bank regulators should foster an environment of financial competition, where institutions compete on the merits of their products and bear their own risks, instead of…
Blog
Ending the Myth of ‘Too Much’ Bank Competition
It’s time to let the idea that too much competition is bad for financial stability finally die.
Blog
Congress Moves on Financial Reform Bills
Nearly a decade on from the 2007-08 financial crisis, it is clear that the federal regulatory regime is not working.
RealClear Markets
Janet Yellen Says All the Wrong Things About Dodd-Frank
In possibly her last visit as Chairwoman to the Federal Reserve’s annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Janet Yellen decided to go out with a…
Blog
5 Ways ‘Consumer Protection’ Hurts Consumers
Financial regulation does not have to be a zero-sum trade-off between consumers and businesses.
Blog
Fix Payday Loans with More Competition
Last week, I wrote about the devastating impact that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) new regulation on short-term, small-dollar loans could have upon…
Blog
Why Africa Needs Economic Freedom
That is the topic I presented earlier this week as part of the panel discussion, Perspectives on African Development, at the Department of State’s…
Spectator Australia
The Best Banking Regulator? Competition
Australian banking is in a tough spot. The recent Commonwealth Bank scandal, involving a systemic breach of anti-money laundering laws, has exposed a culture of…
Blog
Why Economic Freedom Is the Best Weapon against Poverty
This blog post is adapted from a speech delivered to the Foreign Service Institute at the United States Department of State on August 29, 2017.
News Release
Fed Chair Yellen Off the Mark in Dodd-Frank Comments
At the Federal Reserve’s annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on August 25, 2017, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen made some tedious claims on the…
Blog
Federal Payday Loan Rule Would Devastate Vulnerable Consumers
It is clear then that the CFPB has no legitimate basis for regulating most payday loans out of existence.
Morning Consult
It’s Time to Eliminate Volcker Rule and Federal Deposit Insurance
America’s national bank regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, announced this month that it would seek to ease one of the most…
Blog
Easing the Volcker Rule Would Be Good, Abolishing it Would Be Better
The Volcker Rule vowed to promote safety and soundness in the financial services industry by banning certain kinds of commercial banks trading, but has not…
Blog
Volcker Rule Harms Financial Stability and Economic Growth
The Volcker Rule’s definition is rather ambiguous, and gives little clarity as to how both regulators and banks should conduct their business.
Blog
Regulators Mull Changes to ‘Volcker Rule’ on Bank Investments
Given that the Volcker Rule’s future hangs in the balance, it is important to review its short history, perverse effects, and what the best options…
Blog
Congress Should Confirm Export-Import Bank Nominee, End Corporate Welfare
The Export-Import Bank is one of the capital’s greatest boondoggles, handing out loans for large corporations at the taxpayer’s expense.
Investor's Business Daily
Glass-Steagall Held Back Main Street Banks and Their Customers
A strange-bedfellows mix of Democrats and Republicans have called for resurrecting the Glass-Steagall Act, a Depression-era law that separated commercial and investment banking. For…
Study
Why Wall Street Loves Glass-Steagall
View Full Document as PDF Debates over financial regulation often refer to “Wall Street” and “Main Street” as shorthand for, respectively, 1)…
Blog
Congress Should Protect Consumers from Harmful Finance Regulations
Overregulation from Dodd-Frank and the CFPB has taken an enormous toll on community banks, small businesses and consumers alike.
Blog
Resolution of Disapproval of CFPB’s Arbitration Rule Is Long Overdue
This week, the House of Representatives is scheduled to consider a joint resolution of disapproval (H.J. Res. 111) of a controversial new regulation issued…
Blog
Legislation Introduced in Congress to Ease Regulations on Small and Medum-Sized Banks
While recent news cycles dominating Washington have focused on Russia, health care, and now tax reform, some little-noticed progress is being made in deregulating the…
The Spectator Australia
“Buy Ethical” Will Only Harm the World’s Poorest
For the past four years, Baptist World Aid Australia have been releasing their annual Behind the Barcode report into the working conditions of…
Forbes
Reform Bill Trades Foreign Aid For Corporate Welfare
A new foreign aid bill soon to be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives looks to substitute U.S. development assistance in favor of private…
Investor's Business Daily
World Bank And IMF Get African Development Wrong, Again
It’s springtime in Washington D.C., which, for the uninitiated, means not only cherry blossoms and Nationals’ baseball, but the spectacle of the World Bank’s and…
Blog
CFPB Delays Prepaid Card Rule
Earlier today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it will delay its 1,700-page prepaid spending cards rule until April 1, 2018. This follows…
CapX
Only Economic Freedom Will Keep Africa Growing
Ever since African nations began to gain independence in the 1960s, Western countries have looked to assist their economic development. While the nature of this…
Blog
African Development Requires Economic and Legal Reforms, Affordable Energy
If the African continent is to achieve the prosperity it deserves, then African policy makers and non-governmental organizations alike should strive to implement pro-growth policies.
News Release
Africa Economic Success Depends on Three Big Reforms
Study
Economic Freedom Is Key to African Development
Blog
Glass-Steagall Would Not Have Prevented the Financial Crisis
The Glass-Steagall Act was an ineffective and harmful regulation for a bygone era. To re-impose it now would be to inject additional risk into the…
Blog
Lawmakers Should Shun Long-Repealed Bank Restrictions
The Glass-Steagall Act is the bad idea that never seems to die.
Blog
Let Africa Power Its Future with Affordable Energy
Economic development in Africa needs affordable, reliable fossil fuels, not expensive, intermittent renewables, as some Western environmentalists demand.
Blog
Low-Cost Private Schools a Success for Developing World Families
Education reform advocates in the United States have a lot to learn from low-cost private schools in the world's poorest communities.
Blog
Gates Foundation Should Credit Market Reforms for Poverty Reduction
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation should give greater credit to the proven economic reforms that have spurred development throughout the world.
Blog
Blockchain Business Council to Help Secure Property Rights for World’s Poor
The launch of the Global Blockchain Business Council at the 2017 World Economic Forum is good news for the world’s venture capitalists and poor alike.