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
News Release
Interest rates not budging, Fed to focus on inflation not stimulus: CEI analysis
The Federal Reserve announced today that they are holding steady on interest rates in a continued effort to combat inflation. CEI senior economist…
Issues and Insights
Congress Misses Opportunity To Repeal IRA Stock Buyback Tax
Republicans hailed the One Big Beautiful Bill for achieving tax cuts and spending reductions. Despite this victory, the bill was missing a fix for an unwarranted…
Blog
Favorable selection in Medicare Advantage can’t be managed from the top
A previous post covered how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) attempts to mitigate upcoding have been unsuccessful. Another often-decried activity…
Search Posts
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…
Comment
CEI Letter to OMB Requesting Rejection of CFPB “Payday Lending” Rule
View Full Document as PDF Dear Ms. Rao: The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) hereby requests that OMB reject the information collection…
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…
Fox Business
Minimum Wage Hikes Sending Restaurants the Way of the Shopping Mall?
Fox Business discusses minimum wage hikes with Iain Murray. Eighteen states raised their minimum wages at the start of 2018, but increasing labor…
The New York Times
Blockchain or Blockheads? Bitcoin Mania Mints Believers and Skeptics
John Schwartz, writing for The New York Times, discusses Bitcoin with Jim Harper. Sometimes life shows you what absurd really…
Investor's Business Daily
Clipping The Corrupt CFPB’s Wings
Investor’s Business Daily covers the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s slush fund. We’ve been clear where we stand with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the…
The Washington Examiner
Trump Budget Chief Shuts Down Consumer ‘Protection’ Bureau ‘Slush Fund’
The Washington Examiner covers the review of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ‘slush fund.’ An educational “slush fund” used by the Consumer Financial Protection…
Fox Business
Red Robin Eliminates Bus Boys as Restaurants Combat Minimum Wage Hikes
Fox Business discusses minimum wage hikes with Iain Murray. At the beginning of January, minimum wage increases took effect in 18 states and…
One America News
VIDEO: John Berlau Discusses CFPB Slush Fund on One America News
One America News discusses Mick Mulvaney’s attempts to stop the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s slush fund with John Berlau. Watch the full…
JD Supra
The IRS Succeeds in Compelling Crypto Exchange to Disclose User Information
JD Supra covers an amicus brief by CEI in Coinbase v. United States. As the price of bitcoin leaps and lurches toward new highs,…
Bloomberg Politics
Bitcoin Falls Into Gray Area of Disclosure Rules for Congress
Bloomberg Politics discusses Bitcoin with Jim Harper. To guard against insider trading and financial conflicts, members of Congress and federal officials must file regular…
The Washington Post
Bitcoin Got a Big Boost in 2017. Here are 5 Other Cryptocurrencies to Watch in 2018.
The Washington Post discusses cryptocurrencies with Jim Harper. Mainstream investors spent much of last year trying to figure out how to jump in on …
Blog
Bitcoin’s Wonderful, Awful Year
Will Bitcoin’s social capital grow to justify the current high price?…
News Release
CEI Congratulates Hester Peirce
Competitive Enterprise Institute President Kent Lassman congratulated Hester Peirce on her confirmation to the Securities and Exchange Commission: “Hester Peirce understands the real…
Blog
The Top Five Reforms in Financial Regulation Needed in 2018
With the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at last pulling back from its regulatory assault on the financial services industry, conditions are right for major…
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.
Blog
Digital Finance Pioneers Using Bitcoin for Savings, Payments,…and Donations
Your support for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, given in Bitcoin or dollars, can help us strengthen the hand of the businesses that offer a revolution…
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…
Blog
A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Slush Fund?
While there are many reasons to criticize the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), it being assigned to enforce the nation’s financial consumer protection laws…
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…
CoinDesk
Victory Lap? 2017 Was Bitcoin’s Backwards Year
2017 was another gloriously miserable year for bitcoin. As in 2016, gains in the price of bitcoin belie deep deficits in the cryptocurrency world.
JD Supra
U.S. v. Coinbase: Virtual Currency Holders Not Outside the IRS’s Reach
JD Supra covers U.S. v. Coinbase and CEI’s amicus brief in the case. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, on…
Blog
End CFPB’s Collection of Americans’ Financial Data
Last week, when the drama of the dueling directors began at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), I told The Washington Examiner that the…
Blog
Economics Will Be Our Ruination, Bitcoin Edition—and Some Notes on Securing Your Cryptocurrency
Asked about Bitcoin last week, economics Nobel laureate and Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz said, among other gems, “It ought to be outlawed. It…
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…
Blog
Back to Basics after Bitcoin’s Wild Rise
The alternate currency known as Bitcoin has had a wild week, and its dramatic rise in value has meant that many Americans are hearing and…
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
Case of Mortgage Lender PHH Corp. Highlights CFPB’s Unconstitutional Abuses
The facts of PHH Corporation v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau stand as a sharp example of the agency's ability to abuse its enormous power.
Blog
Court Orders Coinbase to Turn over Cryptocurrency User Data to IRS
Congress should revisit the law to protect privacy and due process in IRS investigations.
Consumer Reports
You Still Can’t Sue Your Bank. So What Can You Do?
Consumer Reports covers the repeal of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s anti-arbitration rule. The Senate’s recent vote to let forced-arbitration language …
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.
The Washington Times
Judge Rules in Favor of Trump in Battle over CFPB Leadership
The Washington Times covers the ruling in the fued over leadership of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A federal court rejected efforts by anti-…
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
Senate Bill’s Stealth FIFO Capital Gains Hike Hinders Tax Reform
It’s crunch time on tax reform! The House passed a bill just before Thanksgiving. Now it’s the Senate’s turn. A good tax reform bill would…
The Washington Examiner
CFPB’s ‘NSA-Like’ Surveillance in Limbo with Leadership Tussle
The Washington Examiner discusses Mick Mulvaney’s appointment as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with John Berlau. The fight for control of…
Breitbart
CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney Orders 30-Day Hiring, Regulatory Freeze
Breitbart covers Consumer Financial Protection Bureau acting director Mick Mulvaney’s hiring and regulatory freeze. Mulvaney declared that President Trump “wants me…
Fox Business
Trump’s CFPB Won’t Be Obama’s: Key Ways It Could Be Different
Fox Business discusses Mick Mulvaney’s appointment as acting director of the Consumer Financiual Protection Bureau with Iain Murray. As the battle wages on over…
The New York Post
Banks Remain Quiet on Mulvaney CFPB Appointment
The New York Post discusses Mick Mulvaney’s appointment to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with Iain Murray. While Washington was buzzing on Monday over…
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…
News Release
Judge Sides with Trump in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Fight
Upon news that a federal judge this afternoon ruled against a bureaucrat who claimed that she, not President Trump’s appointee Mick Mulvaney, is the lawful director of the…
Blog
Acting CFPB Director Mulvaney’s Bipartisan FinTech Work
Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney has long broken bread with folks he disagrees with to find common ground on policy.
