CEI has fought excessive regulation in the financial sector from laws such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank. We have scored major bipartisan victories for deregulation. These include the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, signed by President Obama in 2012, that lifted or relaxed some of the biggest burdens preventing small and midsize firms from raising capital and going public; and the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, signed by President Trump in 2018, that lifted some of Dodd-Frank’s crushing burden on community banks and credit unions. We continue to fight to remove regulatory barriers that limit choices and increase costs for entrepreneurs, investors, and consumers.
Banking and Finance Issue Areas
Featured Posts
Blog
Forecasts, not puppet strings: The myth that prediction markets rig reality (Part I)
Prediction markets have become an increasingly prominent tool for forecasting elections, economic indicators, geopolitical events, and other uncertain outcomes. As their popularity has grown,…
News Release
Inflation drops some in June, does not yet indicate inflation relief is here to stay: CEI analysis
The Consumer Price Index report for June fell 0.4 percent, mostly canceling out May’s 0.5 percent increase. While this may provide some immediate…
Blog
Lessons Kevin Warsh can learn from the late Alan Greenspan
Alan Greenspan’s recent passing provides an opportunity to reassess his legacy as Chairman of the Federal Reserve and consider the lessons Kevin Warsh can…
Search Posts
The Daily Caller
Elizabeth Warren’s Consumer Protection Agency Should Be ‘Abolished,’ Says Think Tank
The Daily Caller covers the release of “The Case against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.” Consumers are being harmed by the same federal…
National Review Online
The Government Shouldn’t Collect Private Financial Information from America’s Poor
National Review covers a new rule by the CFPB in which they collect personal financial data. One area of agreement, in principle at least,…
Blog
One Solution to the CFPB’s Problems: Pass the Financial CHOICE Act
My new paper, The Case against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Unconstitutionally Structured and Harmful to Consumers, which is out today, makes the case…
InsideSources
Three Early Lessons From the Equifax Hack
InsideSources covers the Equifax breach and Jim Harper‘s response to it. It’s been almost two weeks since Equifax reported the hack of 143…
News Release
Report: Unaccountable CFPB Regulators Do More Harm than Good for Consumers
Today the Competitive Enterprise Institute released a report documenting the harm inflicted on ordinary consumers of financial products by a federal agency that remains…
Study
The Case against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The CFPB was meant to protect American pocketbooks and property. But the unconstitutionally structured agency is harmful to consumers.
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.
Federal Times
Report Calls for Drastic Workforce Cuts at Regulatory Agencies
Federal Times covers CEI’s publication Shrinking Government Bureaucracy. The non-profit Competitive Enterprise Institute is all about shrinking government. In a newly released report…
Blog
The Equifax Breach and Regulation
In the Equifax breach, regulation is a likely contributor to the problem. It is probably not a good solution.
Blog
Why Should Millennials Want to Shrink Government Bureaucracy?
Free markets and limited government are for every generation.
Forbes
IRS Responds To Privacy, Other Challenges In Bitcoin Records Fight
Forbes covers the amicus brief filed in Coinbase v. United States. The federal government fired back last week as answered opposition to its…
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…
Washington Examiner
No, Houston’s Regulation Policy Didn’t Make Hurricane Harvey Flooding Worse
When a major American city is under eight feet of water, it’s a distasteful time to play politics. That hasn’t stopped multiple media commentators looking…
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…
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…
Compliance Week
Killing the SEC and Other Plans to Redraft Regulatory Agencies
Compliance Week covers CEI’s reccomendations for reorganization to the SEC and other agencies from Shrinking Government Bureaucracy. Occasionally daydream about razing Washington’s regulatory agencies…
Blog
President’s Summer Policy Update
When it comes to the institutions of capitalism, the advance of human welfare, and liberty, we are here because we love the work.
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.
CoinDesk
The IRS Has Been Using Bitcoin Tracking Software Since 2015
CoinDesk covers CEI’s amicus brief filing in United States v. Coinbase. The Internal Revenue Service is using bitcoin transaction tracing tools developed by…
National Review Online
Operation Choke Point is Over – Perhaps
Supporters of the rule of law will be overjoyed to hear that the Department of Justice has officially closed down Operation Choke Point. In…
Blog
Yes, Federal Arbitration Rule Will Harm ‘Little Guys’
The Senate to follow the House’s lead and pass a Congressional Review Act resolution to block the Arbitration Rule.
Reason
Goodbye and Good Riddance to Operation Choke Point
Reason covers Iain Murray’s work on Operation Choke Point. A financial dragnet that ensnared porn stars, gun dealers, payday lenders, and other politically…
Blog
Rethinking the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Federal deposit insurance creates a systemic problem of moral hazard.
Washington Times
Federal Government Needs Major Overhaul to Cut Red Tape, Reduce Costs: Report
The Washington Times covers CEI’s latest publication Shrinking Government Bureaucracy. Shrinking the federal bureaucracy would spur economic growth and reduce costs to taxpayers,…
Washington Free Beacon
Report: Reducing Regulatory Agencies’ Authority Could Boost Economy, Increase Job Creation
The Washington Free Beacon covers CEI’s latest publication Shrinking Government Bureaucracy. Reducing some of government’s regulatory agencies’ authority could boost economic growth and…
Blog
Rethinking the Securities and Exchange Commission
The Securities and Exchange Commission be abolished and its authority to punish securities fraud be transferred to the Federal Trade Commission.
Politico
How to Shrink the Government
Politico’s Morning Money covers CEI’s latest publication Shrinking Government Bureaucracy. The Competitive Enterprise Institute is out with a series of proposals today on…
Legal Newsline
DOL Looks to Delay Fiduciary Rule until 2019
Legal Newsline discusses the delayed implementation of the fiduciary rule with John Berlau. The U.S. Department of Labor is looking to push back…
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…
Washington Examiner
‘Drain the swamp?’ Start with the CFPB
As you muck around the D.C. swamp, there are plenty of dank crevices its denizens inhabit. Those habitats will need to be cleared away if…
Study
Rethinking the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
View Full Document as PDF The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) should be abolished. In its current form, it undermines the constitutional…
Study
Rethinking the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
View Full Document as PDF The Franklin D. Roosevelt administration and Congress created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) during the Great…
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…
CNBC
Investor-Protection Rule is Here to Stay … For Now
CNBC quotes CEI’s John Berlau on the announcement of a delay in implementing the disasterous Fiduciary Rule: While opponents are cheering the delay,…
Forbes
Why Hasn’t Trump Fired CFPB’s Cordray?
Another day, another Trump administration official fired or threatened with firing. That’s what political news has seemed like for the past few weeks. But almost…
Blog
Bitcoin Reserve Proposed for Australian Central Bank
The Australian Parliament may soon consider adding Bitcoin to the currency reserve holdings of the Reserve Bank of Australia.
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
Congressional Leaders Call on Agency Heads to Repudiate Operation Choke Point
Five House committee and subcommittee chairmen today called on the heads of the executive branch agencies most closely connected with Operation Choke Point to repudiate…
Financial Times
US to Delay Rule Requiring Retirement Advisers to Put Client Interests First
The Financial Times cites John Berlau’s take on the announcement of a delay in implementing the harmful Fiduciary Rule: The delay is “a…
News Release
Delay in Fiduciary Rule Compliance Deadline Praised by CEI’s John Berlau
The United States Department of Labor on Wednesday reportedly moved to delay the compliance deadline for the controversial, Obama-era fiduciary rule by 18…
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…
Bloomberg BNA
Nonprofits Side With Coinbase in Fight Against IRS Summons
Bloomberg BNA discusses our amicus brief defending privacy in Coinbase v. U.S.. The IRS is under fire from several nonprofit groups for its…
National Review
Need a $500 Loan to Buy a Fridge? Obama’s New Rules Would Require More Paperwork than a Mortgage
The National Review discusses our court case in State National Bank of Big Spring v. Lew: Keep in mind that the same agency…
News Release
CEI Files Amicus Brief in Bitcoin Privacy Case
CEI filed an amicus brief in U.S. v. Coinbase, a case dealing with Bitcoin and user information. CEI’s brief argues that the IRS should not be…
Blog
For the Sake of Financial Privacy, IRS Subpoena of Coinbase Should Go
Our brief in United States v. Coinbase might have a lot to say about what the future of financial privacy looks like.
Legal Brief
Brief Of Amicus Curiae In Opposition IRS Summons in USA v. Coinbase
View full document as PDF The contract between Coinbase and its customers allocates property rights in personal information. That protects customers’ privacy…
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…
Politico
New Glass-Steagall Report
Politico’s Morning Money covers John Berlau’s report, Why Wall Street Loves Glass-Steagall. Via CEI: “CEI has a new Glass-Steagall report on why policymakers…
News Release
Report: Return to Depression-Era Banking Law would Shatter Main Street Banks, Shrink Competition
A new report released today by the Competitive Enterprise Institute warns against efforts by Democrats and Republicans to resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, a…
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
Financial Regulators Should End ‘Too-Big-to-Fail’ Status
In the name of financial stability, federal regulators should at the very least hit the much-need pause button on the SIFI designation process.
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
Consumers Win as House Votes to Overturn Credit Card Arbitration Ban
The Senate must follow the House in passing this resolution of disapproval and in passing the Financial CHOICE Act to bring constitutional accountability to the…
Crowdfund Insider
“Sarbanes-Oxley Is Shutting Out Average Investors from the Early Growth Stages of the Next Cisco & Starbucks”
Crowdfund Insider covers John Berlau’s testimony on Sarbanes-Oxley before the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Securities, and Investment (Financial Services). … In…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Urging Use of Congressional Review Act to Reverse CFPB Arbitration Rules
View Full Document as PDF Dear Speaker Ryan and Majority Leader McConnell: We, the following free-market, limited-government, and liberty-oriented organizations, ask you…
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…
Coindesk
Understanding Bitcoin’s Scaling Debate: Politics Comes First
Software programmers are usually collegial and collaborative, but parts of the bitcoin developer community are currently displaying the kind of acrimony familiar to political capitols…
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…
Coindesk
‘Bitcoin Sign Guy’ Has a New Job, But He’s Keeping His Identity Secret
Coindesk discusses Bitcoin Sign Guy’s new job at CEI with his boss Jim Harper. It’s been a tumultuous week since the man known as…
The Hill
Warren’s Consumer ‘Protection’ Agency Sets Dangerous Precedent
The Hill discusses the CFPB’s arbitration rule with John Berlau. Sen. Elizabeth Warren‘s government-run-wild brain child is continuing its left-wing sprint into…
The Hill
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Pro-Lawyer Power Grab
Imagine you have a dispute with your credit card company. Currently, you can go to an arbitration body, where the card company will almost certainly…
Blog
‘Bitcoin Sign Guy’ Joins CEI
Bitcoin Sign Guy rankled Congress and delighted the cryptocurrency community last week.
Comment
CEI’s John Berlau Testimony Before House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Securities and Investment
View full document as PDF Chairman Huizenga, Ranking Member Maloney, and honorable members of this subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to…
Blog
Finance Regulators Reject All Critiques, Plow Ahead with Arbitration Rule
CEI will continue to work to overturn the CFPB's arbitration rule and restore the ability of consumers to enter into arbitration agreements, saving them time…
News Release
CEI Criticizes New CFPB Ban on Consumer Arbitration Clauses
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today criticized a new rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) banning financial industry companies from using mandatory arbitration clauses to…
Blog
CFPB Director Shows Contempt for Congress – President Trump Should Fire Him
Add another one to the long list of reasons why President Trump should fire Richard Cordray, the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Blog
Don’t Follow the Money
The July/August issue of Foreign Affairs has an excellent article by Professor Peter Neumann of King’s College London entitled: “Don’t Follow the Money: The Problem with…
Newsmax
Passing Financial Choice Act Will Help FinTech Innovators
Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Financial CHOICE Act along partisan lines with all Democrats present voting against it and all…
Blog
CHOICE Act Helps Sharing Economy and FinTech, but a Senate Bill May Harm It
Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Financial CHOICE Act along partisan lines with all Democrats present voting against it and all…
Fortune
States Are Secretly Trying to Tax Your Online Purchases
States and localities currently cannot tax online purchases made from companies outside their own borders. Yet over the past two decades, state and local…
Politico
CEI Weighs in on Treasury Report
Politico covers CEI’s Iain Murray’s response to the Treasury report released on June 12, 2017 The free-market group Competitive Enterprise Institute has mostly…
Cayman Financial Review
The Internet of Payments and the Future of Banking: Crisis and Opportunity
Imagine a world where your washing machine can recognize it needs more detergent and orders it for you. Now imagine a world where your self-driving…
Blog
Treasury Report Good First Step towards Financial Reform
CEI welcomes many of the recommendations and looks forward to the further three reports in the series.
Blog
A Birthday Wish List for the President
Here are four gifts Congress should give the president before its annual July 4th recess.
Blog
Arguments Against Cash Economy Bolster Government Power
The way people spend money and time reveals what they truly value.
National Review
The Top Ten Reasons to Pass the Financial CHOICE Act
It’s no secret that the Dodd-Frank Act did for Americans’ access to financial services what Obamacare did for their access to health insurance. In…
Blog
Let Private Markets Finance Aircraft Sales
There is no good reason to keep the Export-Import Bank —or its international brethren—around.
News Release
House-Passed Financial CHOICE Act Will Help Middle Class Investors, Consumers
Today, the House passed a plan aimed at scaling back some of the most harmful provisions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law. CEI senior…
Blog
The Clear Case for Restructuring the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Financial CHOICE Act would go a long way towards righting the wrongs inflicted on American financial consumers by this erroneously-named agency.
Reason
Alphabet Soup for the Soul: Some Organizations Represented Include Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, Americans for Tax Reform, American Legislative Exchange Council, Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation.
Reason discusses the CFPB and the Financia CHOICE Act with John Berlau. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s days as the federal government’s most…
Bloomberg BNA
Retailers Win, Banks Lose in Debit-Card Swipe Fee Fight
Bloomberg BNA covers the Durbin Amendment and a statement put out by CEI’s Iain Murray. An effort to repeal the caps that banks…
News Release
CEI Criticizes House for Capitulation on Durbin Amendment Price Controls
CEI financial policy expert Iain Murray criticized the House for stripping out repeal of the Durbin amendment yesterday from the Financial CHOICE Act.
The Hill
The GOP Must Fight Against the Durbin Amendment’s Price Controls
If there’s one thing House Republicans should stand united against, it’s draconian government price controls. When it comes to government policies interfering with market prices,…
Study
The World Bank’s Trail of Sorrows
View Full Document as PDF…
News Release
Trump Labor Department Gives Fiduciary Rule Go-Ahead, Despite Harmful Impact on Savers and Investors
Today, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta announced his agency will proceed with the controversial fiduciary rule. CEI senior fellow John Berlau warns that the coming restrictions…
News Release
CEI General Counsel Says Time to Invalidate ‘Fundamentally Unconstitutional’ CFPB
A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will be heard in federal court this Wednesday. Mortgage lender PHH Corp. brought…
Blog
Powerful Officials, Like the Director of the CFPB, Should Be Democratically Accountable
While a three-judge panel of the appeals court ruled against the CFPB’s constitutionality, the full appeals court will re-hear arguments in the case on May…
Blog
The Community Reinvestment Act’s Absurd Unintended Consequences
Many neighborhoods designated as poor under the federal Community Reinvestment Act are among the wealthiest in the nation.
News Release
Berlau Criticizes Government Confiscation of Fannie/Freddie Shareholder Profits
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt is set to testify before the Senate Banking Committee today about government-backed mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie…
Blog
There is No Consumer – or Small Business – Case for the Durbin Amendment
Two new studies demonstrate that there is no consumer case for keeping the Durbin Amendment, and neither is there a small business case for doing…
Letters
CEI Joins Taxpayer Advocate Coalition Supporting Private Flood Insurance
View Full Document as PDF Dear Members of Congress, On behalf of the undersigned free-market organizations and taxpayer advocates, we write to…
Cayman Financial Review
The Internet of Payments and the Future of Banking: Crisis and Opportunity
Imagine a world where your washing machine can recognize it needs more detergent and orders it for you. Now imagine a world where your self-driving…
Newsmax
Financial CHOICE Act Could Unshackle Small Business
As National Small Business Week is unfolded during the previous week, the House Financial Services Committee marked up a bill on Thursday of last week…
NBC News
Why Republicans Want to Declaw the Nation’s Consumer Financial Watchdog Agency
NBC News discusses the Financial CHOICE Act with Iain Murray. A new bill aims to dismantle the powers of the Consumer Financial Protection…
