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
Cato Institute
The Fate of ‘Never Needed’ Regulations
Parking lots and parking garages have served for decades as venues for clandestine meetings in the movies and often in reality. In the early 1970s,…
News Release
House poised to end Biden-era CFPB overdraft rule: CEI statement
The House is expected today to vote on a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution overturning a Biden era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule to cap…
Issues & Insights
Reviving Community Banking By Lifting Barriers To New Banks
Americans have far fewer banks to choose from than they once did. The American banking industry has consolidated, with the number of U.S. banks falling…
Search Posts
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.
The Washington Times
Protecting Consumers from Fraud and Abuse
Following Richard Cordray’s resignation as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the smart money is betting that President Trump will appoint Mick Mulvaney, head…
Blog
Federal Office of Financial Research Violates Privacy, Produces Little of Value
The American people would be better off without it.
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
Good Riddance to Finance Regulator Richard Cordray
The resignation of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray is long overdue.
News Release
Video: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Doesn’t Protect Consumers, It Harms Them
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute released a video that outlines how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) actually harms consumers rather than “protects” them.
News Release
CEI Urges Swift Action on CFPB Problems as Director Richard Cordray Resigns
The CFPB under Cordray’s tenure has failed consumers.
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.
Blog
Property Rights of Fannie and Freddie Shareholders—Including Small Investors—Must Be Respected
Private investors should never be guaranteed any type of government bailout. At the same time, they should not have their property and contract rights violated.
News Release
Report: Taxpayers in Danger of Massive Mortgage Bailout
Looming problems mean taxpayers are unfairly on the hook for yet another 2008-style mortgage bailout.
Study
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Still Endanger U.S. Economy
View Full Document as PDF Nearly a decade since the housing bust of 2008 sent the U.S. economy into a tailspin, much…
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 Times
Trump Signs Legislation to Repeal Obama-era Arbitration Rule
The Washington Times discusses the repeal of the anti-arbitration rule with Iain Murray. President Trump signed legislation Wednesday afternoon repealing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s…
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…
News Release
CEI Praises President, Congress for Stopping CFPB Arbitration Rule
Today, President Trump is expected to sign a congressional resolution of disapproval against a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule curtailing binding arbitration, a common form…
News Release
Competitive Enterprise Institute Praises Trump SEC Nominee, Hester Peirce
The Senate Banking Committee today voted unanimously to confirm two of President Trump’s nominees to fill vacant posts on the powerful Securities and Exchange Commission.
Blog
A ‘Personal Appeal’ to President Trump to Fire CFPB’s Cordray
Yesterday, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray released a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to veto Congress’ recent anti-arbitration rule resolution.
Blog
Ghouls and Goblins and Guidances
You could consider CEI to be the Ghostbusters of Washington, fighting back ghouls and goblins on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Real Clear Politics
It’s Time for Trump to Kill the Regulatory Swamp Monsters
In Real Clear Politics, Steve Forbes cites CEI’s “The Case against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.” President Trump has successfully taken a chainsaw to some…
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…
Wall Street Journal
VIDEO: Opinion Journal: Arbitration Vote: Lawyers Lose, You Win
Iain Murray, Vice President for Strategy at CEI, joins Mary Kissel of the Wall Street Journal to discuss the repeal of the CFPB’s anti-arbitration rule.
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…
Marketplace
AUDIO: How Restrictions on Class Action Lawsuits Affect the Arbitration Industry
American Public Media’s Marketplace discusses arbitration and class action fairness with Ted Frank. View the interview here on the Marketplace website. …
The Daily Caller
Senate Kills Obama-Era Financial Rule
The Daily Caller discusses the repeal of the CFPB anti-arbitration rule with Ted Frank. The Senate narrowly laid to rest a Consumer Financial Protection…
News Release
Senate Stops Harmful CFPB Arbitration Ban
The Senate prevented a cash grab that would have transferred wealth from consumers to the pockets of wealthy attorneys.
Reuters
Republicans, Wall Street Score Victory in Dismantling Class-Action Rule
Reuters discusses the Senate’s CRA vote regarding the CFPB’s anti-arbitration rule with Ted Frank. Banks, credit card issuers and other financial companies will be…
Bloomberg BNA
Business Groups Attack ‘America First’ Merger Review Bill
Bloomberg BNA discusses the United States Foreign Investment Review Act of 2017 with John Berlau. Senate legislation to increase scrutiny of mergers proposed by…
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…
Blog
Treasury: CFPB’s Arbitration Rule Falls Short
The Department of the Treasury has released its analysis of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Arbitration Rule, which bans the use of…
National Review Online
Time for a New Fed Chairman
The establishment is…
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…
Fox Business Network Online
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Hurting Those it Was Designed to Protect?
Fox Business Network Online covers CEI’s “Case against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau” by Iain Murray. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been a…
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…
Blog
Overcoming Regulatory Barriers to Serving the Underserved
How many people are pushed to the fringes of the banking system by Dodd-Frank regulations? How will the CFPB's new regulations prevent the underserved from…
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.
National Review Online
Consumers Harmed by Consumer Protection Bureau – Again
Yesterday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued yet another rule that will harm consumers. A new rule on small dollar loans will kill off about…
The Hill
Abolish Financial Protection Bureau Before it Does More Harm
The Hill covers CEI’s “Case against the Financial Protection Bureau” by Iain Murray. With each passing week, the speculation grows that the activist liberal…
News Release
CFPB Payday Loan Rule Hurts Consumers in Urgent Need: Statement by CEI expert
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today unveiled its long-awaited rule against short term “payday” loans. CEI Senior Fellow John Berlau criticized the new rule,…
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
Bank Regulator Report: ‘Arbitration Rule’ on Credit Cards Will Raise Costs on Consumers
A new report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency refutes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s argument that its Arbitration Rule will have…
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.
Reason
Defenders of the CFPB’s Newest Financial Regulation Are Ignoring Crucial Facts
Reason discusses the anti-arbitration rule in regards to the Equifax breach with John Berlau. In the wake of the Equifax breach, in which hackers…
Blog
Bailout Mentality Persists in International Banking Despite Reform Attempts
Europe, in an effort to ensure that the next banking crisis would not end in a taxpayer bailout, created bail-in rules and started performing stress…
Blog
Fat-Cat Attorneys’ Bogus Arguments on Arbitration Rule
Fat cat class-action attorneys and their apologists are getting desperate.
The American Spectator
Why Trump Must Fire Obama Holdover Cordray
In the private sector and during his short time as president, Donald J. Trump has never been shy about firing subordinates. Yet some powerful Obama…
The Hill
Disappointments Aside, Sessions Has Been on a Winning Streak for Trump Supporters
The Hill covers the upcoming DOJ decision on the structure and constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. For someone who, like me,…
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
Sen. Reed’s Harmful and Foolish Opposition to Arbitration in Consumer Finance Disputes
Sen. Reed and his allies are using hard cases to put the interests of trial lawyers above the interests of a free people.
Wall Street Journal
Where Was CFPB While Wells Fargo Plundered?
F. Paul Bland asserts (Letters, Sept. 12) that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule is necessary to avoid “immunity” for Wells Fargo for…
Investor's Business Daily
How Can We Fix The CFPB? Shut It Down
Investor’s Business Daily covers the release of The Case against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by Iain Murray. Regulation: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s very…
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…
Comment
CEI Comments to Office of the Comptroller on Volcker Rule
View Full Document as PDF On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), we are pleased to submit the following comments on…
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.
