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
Reason
Fight Government Corruption With Deregulation
Reason cited CEI’s expert on regulatory budgets “When regulatory systems become dense, opaque, and discretionary, they create perverse incentives for corruption,” Steve Swedberg, a regulatory…
The Washington Examiner
Credit card companies are easy to vilify, but the wrong target for consumer ire
The Washington Examiner cited CEI’s expert on financial policy. John Berlau, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said entrepreneurs turned to credit…
Blog
Cut the steel, cut the cost: Why Congress is right to scrap the chassis mandate
If buying a home in the US feels more expensive, that is not merely your imagination. A Harvard University study found that national single-family home…
Search Posts
Blog
Help the Poor by Making Their Lives Less Expensive
The Cato Institute’s Ryan Bourne has a great new study (and accompanying video) out about social welfare, government spending, and regulatory reform.
Blog
Promise and Pitfalls of Treasury Fintech Report
July 31st, 2018, was one of the most exciting days for financial technology regulation in recent memory. Around 10 a.m. that morning was when the…
CUtoday
Competitive Enterprise Institute Gets Update On CUs From CUNA
CUtoday cited CEI’s CUNA event. WASHINGTON—The Competitive Enterprise Institute here was given an update on the state of credit unions and potential opportunities…
Credit Union National Association
CUNA’s Nussle, Schenk Talk CU Regulatory Climate At CEI
Credit Union National Association cited CEI from CUNA event. CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle and Deputy Chief Advocacy Officer for Policy Analysis Mike Schenk…
Washington Examiner
Congress Already Ruined Sports Betting Once; Don’t Let Them Do it Again
After a prohibition lasting more than two decades, Americans outside Nevada can at last bet on sports without breaking the law.
Blog
Five Western States Will Vote on Energy Questions on November Ballots
Five western states have initiatives or referendums on energy issues. They include increasing renewable energy mandates, instituting a carbon tax, restricting oil and gas production,…
Comment
Testimony of Michelle Minton on Post-PASPA: An Examination of Sports Betting in America
Chairman Sensenbrenner, Ranking Member Jackson Lee and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to present comments on behalf of my organization, the…
Products
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Urging House Passage of Tax Reform 2.0 Legislation
The Honorable Paul Ryan Speaker U.S. House of Representatives H-232, The Capitol Washington, D.C. 20515 The Honorable Kevin Brady Chairman House…
The Washington Examiner
A Decade after the Financial Crisis, the Government Fuels Another Housing Bubble
Ten years ago this month marks the anniversary of one of the most dramatic events of the 2008 financial crisis: the collapse of Lehman Brothers,…
Blog
Congress Should Stay out of Sports Betting Regulation
For the first time in twenty-five years, Americans can legally wager on the outcome of sporting events outside of Nevada. Thanks to a Supreme…
Blog
Free-Market Groups Urge Congress to Eliminate, Not Expand, Electric Vehicle Tax Credits
In a joint letter released this week, thirty free market groups urged House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) to oppose “any effort to expand…
Blog
The Financial Crisis 10 Years Later: What’s Changed?
Ten years ago, the United States plunged into a financial crisis that would bring the world economy to the brink of collapse. The housing bubble…
Blog
Zoning Laws Are Holding Back America’s Cities
The options we have for housing are determined, in part, by the houses and apartment buildings that developers choose to build. But what they are…
Blog
The Financial Crisis 10 Years Later: Restrictions on Housing Supply Makes Matters Worse
The broader financial crisis of 2007-2008 was the result of the U.S residential housing market collapse. That housing collapse itself was a consequence of an…
Blog
The Financial Crisis 10 Years Later: Fannie and Freddie Fueled the Subprime Mortgage Bubble
If anything symbolizes the American dream, it is homeownership—an asset that is viewed as part of a route from poverty and exclusion to independence and…
Blog
The Financial Crisis 10 Years Later: A Legacy of Racist Government Housing Policy
A decade ago this Saturday, the world shook as Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States, filed for bankruptcy. Representing one of…
News Release
Ten Year Anniversary of Financial Crisis and Nothing Has Improved
It’s been 10 years since investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy as of September 15, marking the epicenter of the infamous 2008 financial crisis.
Blog
Democratic Attorneys General Wrong on Fair Lending Laws
On Wednesday, a coalition of fourteen Democratic attorneys generals wrote a letter to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection urging the acting director, Mick…
Blog
Supreme Court Should Decide if Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Is Unconstitutional
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute is asking the Supreme Court to hear the lawsuit we filed challenging the constitutionality of the Bureau of Consumer Financial…
News Release
Supreme Court Asked to Hear Challenge to Constitutionality of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), and the 60 Plus Association on September 6 petitioned the United States…
Blog
Securities and Exchange Commission Seeks to Liberalize ‘Accredited Investor’ Standard
Great news for middle-class investors and start-up businesses alike—on Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton announced that the SEC is looking…
Forbes
Let Middle-Class Investors Join the ‘Accredited’ Club
With the increasing focus on inequality and cronyism on both Left and Right, one would think that politicians and bureaucrats would rush to get rid…
Blog
Australian Government Calls for Interchange Fee Ban
One would expect that years of failing policy would force policymakers to reconsider the wisdom of their actions. But not for the Australian Productivity Commission,…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter in Support of the Death Tax Repeal Act
The undersigned organizations support your bill, the Death Tax Repeal Act. We appreciate your work to lead the country towards a common sense tax code that…
Products
CEI Joins Coalition Letter in Support of H.R. 5470
On behalf of our organizations and Americans we represent, we write to express support of your legislation, H.R. 5470. This legislation will eliminate the Office…
Blog
Confirm Kraninger, Rein in Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
Today, the Senate Banking Committee will likely vote to send the nomination of Kathleen Kraninger for director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to…
Blog
‘Infant Industry’ Argument Does Not Justify Trade Barriers
Most startups fail. The conventional wisdom is that about 90 percent of businesses fail within five years of their founding. For companies making new types…
News Release
CEI Endorses Trump Nominee for Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow John Berlau expressed CEI’s support for President Trump’s nominee to head the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection:…
Blog
California Supreme Court Rules Interest Rates May Be ‘Unconscionable’
Last Monday, the California Supreme Court ruled that interest rates on loans over $2,500 could be deemed ‘unconscionable’ even if usury laws permit them. In…
Blog
Elizabeth Warren’s Hypocrisy on Financial Regulation: Part 1
As far as politicians’ transgressions go, I usually don’t get that riled up about hypocrisy. In the course of voting on and debating so many…
Indy Star
Consumers Lose if Banks Win Credit Union Attacks
Indy Star cited CEI on credit unions. Given the cooperative structure and mission of credit unions, the current types of taxes paid are…
Blog
Securities and Exchange Commission Drops Probe of ExxonMobil over Climate Risk
The Wall Street Journal reported late last Friday that Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulators have “decided against trying to penalize the energy giant over its…
Blog
Looking Back at the Success of ‘Free Enterprise Fund’
In the last decade there has been a kind of separation of powers renaissance in the courts. Previously, separation-of-powers cases were rare and usually occurred…
Blog
Securities and Exchange Commission Bests Labor Department ‘Fiduciary Rule,’ But Still Adds Red Tape
In March, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals killed the Obama administration’s “fiduciary rule,” a prime example of the “bureaucrats know best” type of…
Blog
Federal Charters May Remove Interest Rate Uncertainty for Fintech Firms
The July 31 policy statement by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announcing that it will now grant “special purpose national…
Blog
Finance Regulators Create New National Charter for Innovative ‘Fintech’ Companies
After years of speculation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced Tuesday that it would begin considering applications for special purpose…
Blog
New York State’s Flawed Online Lending Report
Earlier this month, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) released a study of online lending, including findings and recommendations for changes in…
News Release
CEI: Second Quarter Growth Shows Free Market Policies Work, but Restrictive Trade Policies Could Harm Future Growth
The Department of Commerce announced Friday morning the U.S. economy grew by 4.1 percent in the second quarter of 2018.
Blog
Trump Proposes $12 Billion in Aid to Farmers Hurt by His Tariffs
As we’ve been saying ever since this issue heated up, tariffs hurt the economy. There’s no way around it. Seeing this harm, President Trump…
Blog
Appeals Court Rules Federal Housing Finance Agency Unconstitutional
Big news out of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals—the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is unconstitutionally structured. The FHFA was created in the wake…
Blog
In U.S. and Australia, Payment Card Price Controls Create Many Unhappy Returns
Eight years ago this month, the Democrat-controlled House and Senate passed and President Barack Obama signed into law the so-called Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter in Support of Rep. McHenry’s Amendment in FSGG Appropriations
On behalf of our organizations and the Americans we represent, we write to express support of your Amendment to Division B, within the Financial Services…
Blog
Five Questions for Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Nominee Kathy Kraninger
Kathy Kraninger, President Trump’s nominee to head the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (formerly known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB), will…
Blog
Trump Reorg Plan One Step Forward, Two Steps Back on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
My colleagues Trey Kovacs and Iain Murray and, in Forbes, Wayne Crews, give mixed reviews to President Trump’s long-awaited executive branch reorganization…
The Washington Examiner
Judge Protects Us from ‘Protection’ Bureau
As the Senate prepares for what should be a contentious confirmation hearing for President Trump’s nominee to head the powerful Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection…
Blog
Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Must Define New Rulemaking Powers
When Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010, there was an unprecedented allocation of power to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP—previously known as…
Comment
CEI Comments on the CFPB’s Request for Information Regarding Adopted Regulations and New Rulemaking Authorities
On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), we are pleased to provide the following comments on the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection’s (Bureau or…
News Release
CEI Urges Senate To Press CFPB Nominee on Stopping Regulatory Abuse
Over the past weekend, President Trump nominated Kathy Kraninger, an associate director at the Office of Management and Budget, to head the Bureau of Consumer…
Blog
Last Chance for the 115th: Unshackle Middle-Class Investors and Entrepreneurs
Congress and President Trump recently gave Main Street banks and credit unions some much-need but still modest relief from the mountains of red tape stemming…
Blog
Solar ‘Incentives’ Are Busting Out All Over
Ever wonder why installations of household solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and utility-scale solar power have surged since 2014? The declining cost of solar technology is…
Blog
Last Chance for the 115th: Bring Accountability to the Financial Regulators
In CEI’s “Free to Prosper: A Pro-Growth Agenda for the 115th Congress,” my colleagues John Berlau and Iain Murray made the enduring recommendation…
Blog
How to Improve Rulemaking at the CFPB
This week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute submitted comments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, on how it could improve its rulemaking to provide a better…
Comment
CEI Comments on The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection’s RIF Regarding Rulemaking Processes
On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), we are pleased to provide the following comments on the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection’s (bureau or…
News Release
Dodd-Frank Volcker Rule Rollback Will Help Entrepreneurs, Investors
The Federal Reserve Board is expected today to start rolling back the Volcker Rule, a controversial Dodd-Frank provision that prohibits federally insured commercial banks from…
Blog
Finance Regulators Pave Way for Banks to Reenter Small-Dollar Loan Market
Under the letter of the law, banks can now reenter the small-dollar lending space. On Wednesday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)…
The New York Times
Congress Approves First Big Dodd-Frank Rollback
The New York Times cited CEI’s John Berlau on the limitations of current deregulatory reforms in disassembling the Dodd-Frank Act, which burdens consumers, investors, and…
Reason
Congress Just Voted to Repeal a Few Bits of Dodd-Frank
Reason cited John Berlau on the boon to small banks in being able to provide financial relief to Americans that is occuring with deregulation of…
Letters
CEI Leads Coalition Warning Against Punitive Taxation on Credit Unions Consumers
View Full Document as PDF The Honorable Orrin G. Hatch Chairman, U.S. Senate Committee on Finance 219 Dirksen Senate Office Building…
News Release
CEI Commends House Passage of Modest Banking Reforms, Urges Congress to Go Further
Today, the House considered and passed The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act aimed at scaling back a few bad Dodd-Frank bank regulations. CEI Senior Fellow…
Blog
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Reexamines Anti-Discrimination Enforcement
This week President Trump signed a resolution of disapproval overturning one of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s most controversial regulatory actions—the inappropriate application of…
Blog
Ending Disparate Enforcement at Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Just last week, Congress voted to overturn one of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s most controversial regulatory actions—a guidance document that was used…
News Release
Report: CFPB Can Fix Fair Lending Laws, Improve Consumer Protection and Access to Credit
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report urges the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to remedy Obama-era misuse of a 1970s law, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act…
Study
The CFPB and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act
View Full Document as PDF Freedom, equality, and justice are all bedrock principles of the American experiment. Yet it is no secret…
Blog
Cut Red Tape So Middle-Class Investors Can Soar with Next Amazon
Today is the 21st anniversary of the initial public offering of a little company called Amazon. Yes, today Amazon is a behemoth, a supposed…
News Release
House Vote to Stop CFPB Auto Loan Rule Wins CEI Praise
Today, the House of Representatives passed a resolution to stop a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule aimed at curtailing certain auto loan practices.
Blog
Post Office Payday Loans: A Stunningly Bad Idea
Like clockwork, every so often a new member of Congress will rehash an old, tired idea: having the United States Postal Service (USPS) make short-term,…
Blog
Congress Should Axe Backdoor Auto Finance Rule
This week, Congress has a unique opportunity to repeal one of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s worst regulatory actions. Using the Congressional Review Act (CRA),…
Politico
House SNAP Overhaul Could Take a Decade to Implement
Politico cited the Competitive Enterprise Institute on its role in urging upon changing the House farm bill to tackle runaway rates of federally promoted farm…
Washington Times
Leaving the Ultimate Misnomer Behind
Congress has a dwindling number of days left to stop a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regulation that will make payday loans difficult for consumers to get.
Blog
How to Encourage Tech Competition: Deregulate Finance
It’s May Day, and in the pages of the New York Times appears a paean to the halcyon days of the 1930s, urging a…
Blog
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Targets True Rights Violations with Wells Fargo Fine
After being attacked repeatedly for supposedly being soft on Wall Street and the “big banks,” Acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Mick Mulvaney was part…
News Release
CFPB $1 Billion Fine Against Wells Fargo Shows Regulator Power in Trump Era
On news today that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) will impose a combined fine of $1…
News Release
Senate Votes Down Unfair CFPB Auto Lending Rule
CEI praised the Senate today for voting down the Obama-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that unfairly penalized auto lenders for any unintentional disparate impact…
News Release
SEC to Propose Investor Fiduciary Rule
In the wake of a court ruling against a controversial Obama-era Labor Department rule expanding liability for investment advice, the Securities and Exchange Commission today…
Marketplace Radio
AUDIO: John Berlau Discusses Accountability at the CFPB with American Public Media’s Marketplace
John Berlau, Senior Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, joined American Public Media’s Marketplace, to discuss how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can be…
The Wall Street Journal
Cryptocurrency: Does Fed Want to Imitate Venezuela?
John Berlau writes a letter-to-the-editor to The Wall Street Journal about the dangers of the U.S. government issuing its own digital currency. After Kevin Warsh…
The Wall Street Journal
Mick Mulvaney Replies to Elizabeth Warren
Daniel Press writes a letter-to-the-editor to The Wall Street Journal in response to Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s complaints in “Republicans Remain Silent as Mulvaney’s CFPB…
Blog
Acting Director Asks Congress for Reform of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
On Monday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its first semi-annual report to Congress under its new Acting Director, Mick Mulvaney. A routine procedure…
Blog
Commonwealth Nations Beating America on FinTech Regulation
While the United States continues to have healthy development of financial technologies—thanks predominately to unparalleled access to capital and technology—it is at risk of falling…
Forbes
Let’s Keep Cryptocurrency Mines Running in Human Achievement Hour & Every Hour
On Saturday, March 24th, from 8:30 to 9:30 PM in their local time zones, some people will turn off their lights as part of an…
Fox Business
Dropbox IPO Shows Tech Upstarts Still Have It
The long-awaited initial public offering (IPO) by Dropbox, Inc. was a success, shares soared about 40% in the debut. The pop also tells us a…
Blog
Arizona Becomes First State to Establish FinTech Sandbox
As the only state where all four North American deserts reside, it’s fitting that Arizona became the first state to establish a “sandbox” for financial…
Blog
3 Proposals to Temper the Federal Payday Loan Rule
When the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule regulating payday loans in October last year, I wrote that this could be the end…
Sacramento Bee
Kudlow’s Skills will Keep US Economy Rolling in Fast Lane
Just as baseball season approaches, President Donald Trump hits it out of the park with his appointment of economist Larry Kudlow to head the White…
The Wall Street Journal
Elizabeth Warren’s Boomerang
The Wall Street Journal quotes Iain Murray’s tweet on Elizabeth Warren’s complaints about the CFPB: Like Donald Trump, Ms. Warren might want…
News Release
Court Rules Against Obama Fiduciary Rule in a Victory for Middle Class Investors
On news that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals late Thursday struck down the Obama Labor Department's controversial fiduciary rule, Competitive Enterprise Institute financial policy…
News Release
CEI Commends Senate for Passing Bipartisan Dodd-Frank Reform Bill
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) commends the U.S. Senate on passage of Sen. Crapo's S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act.
News Release
CEI Commends Trump’s Choice of Larry Kudlow for Top Economic Post
President Trump is expected to name Larry Kudlow as director of the National Economic Council this week. CEI experts commend Trump for selecting an adviser with…
Blog
3 Reasons the Senate Should Pass Financial Reform
The Senate is expected to vote on its first major piece of financial reform this week since the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. A bipartisan bill…
Blog
The Supreme Court Case That Would Catch the Law Up to Economic Reality
As more and more services move into platform business models as the lower transaction costs they facilitate increase consumer welfare, platform firms need assurance…
Yahoo Finance!
New House Bill Would Kill Consumer Watchdog Payday Loan Rule
Yahoo! Finance cited Daniel Press on the necessity of access for consumers to receive a payday loan. A congressional resolution introduced in the House…
Blog
The Government Killed Free Checking—Can Amazon Save It?
Amazon's move into banking services spells good news for currently under-served consumers, who often rely on relatively expensive financial services such as payday lending or…
News Release
Sen. Crapo’s Dodd-Frank Reform Bill: Important, Commonsense Step Toward Relief for Small Banks
This week, the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on Senator Mike Crapo’s bipartisan Dodd-Frank reform bill, “Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act”…
Blog
If the Payday Lending Rule Stays, Ability-to-Repay Does, Too
Many in the financial services industry seem to believe the CFPB's ability to replay rule doesn’t impact them and it’s not worth fighting. That is…
The Hill
There’s Nothing to Fear About Modest Banking Reform
The United States financial system is in desperate need of reform. The hundreds of new rules and regulations imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act have devastated…
Blog
Government Not Only Source of Regulation for Finance
One of the most misunderstood and underappreciated aspects of free market economics is the idea of private or “self” regulation. Up until recently, private enterprises…
Blog
Implement AEI-Heritage-R Street GSE Plan AND Honor Shareholder Contracts
It is welcome news that our friends from the American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, and the R Street Institute put forth a plan this week…
Bloomberg Law
House Bid to Ax Payday Rule Kicks Off With Bipartisan Support
Bloomberg Law cited Daniel Press on the leadership expressed by House lawmakers for blocking a law that would impede upon the loan-granting process that would…
The Washington Times
Trump Signs Legislation to Repeal Obama-Era Arbitration Rule
The Washington Times quoted Iain Murray on the need for Congress to disapprove of the CFPB’s egregious rule against small dollar loans. President Trump signed…
The Washington Examiner
CFPB’s ‘NSA-like’ surveillance in limbo with leadership tussle
The Washington Examiner quoted John Berlau in the need for regulatory reform and the need to eliminate the cache of consumer data which the CFPB…
