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
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.
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…
