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
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Issues & Insights
Want Higher Air Fares? Overregulate Credit Cards
Yesterday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Transportation held a joint hearing “investigating” airline and credit card reward programs. The Director and Secretary of…
Money
How Much Are Airline Rewards Really Worth? Biden Admin Probes Credit Card Programs
CEI’s Iain Murray’s blog posting was cited in Money about vacation miles: Iain Murray, vice president for strategy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, wrote in…
Blog
Want higher air fares? Overregulate credit cards
This morning, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Transportation are holding a joint hearing “investigating” airline and credit card reward programs.
Search Posts
Blog
Year in Review 2018: Consumer Financial Protection
2018 was a big year for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (also known, for a while, as the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection). The past year…
Products
Free to Prosper: Banking and Finance
View the full chapter on banking and finance here Access to capital is fundamental to the operation of a free society. It allows for…
The Hill
Supreme Court Should do What Congress Won’t: Rein in the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
This April, something remarkable happened in Washington D.C. The acting head of a federal agency told Congress that the agency he directs “is far too…
News Release
CEI: Rumored DOJ Memo to Restrict States’ Power to Regulate Intrastate Gambling Would be “Dangerous Precedent”
According to reports, the Department of Justice is considering releasing a memo that reverses a 2011 decision by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) which…
Blog
Year in Review 2018: Operation Choke Point
Every Halloween, there exists the temptation for commentators to describe routine events in the news with adjectives like “scary” and “frightening.” Sensitive to sounding clichéd…
Cayman Financial Review
Judicial Fortitude: The Last Chance To Rein In the Administrative State, by Peter Wallison
Peter Wallison is a rarity in public life. He has been both a high-level government official in the administration of President Ronald Reagan and a…
National Mortgage Professional
Senate Confirms Kraninger to Run CFPB
National Mortgage Professional cited CEI’s John Berlau on the Senate’s confirmation of Kathleen Kraninger as Director of CFPB. “John Berlau, Senior Fellow at the…
News Release
CEI Commends Trump Nominee to Oversee Housing Finance Agency
President Trump has nominated economist Mark Calabria to head the agency in charge of supervising government-sponsored mortgage loan buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The…
Blog
Five Priorities for New BCFP Director
Kathleen Kraninger was confirmed as director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. She has promised to implement a free market reform agenda, focusing on…
Inside ARM
BREAKING: Senate Confirms Kraninger As Next Director Of BCFP
Inside ARM cited CEI’s Senior Fellow John Berlau on Kathy Kraninger confirmation. Today, the Senate voted on and confirmed Kathy Kraninger as the…
News Release
CEI Hopes New Director of Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Will Continue Tough-But-Fair Approach to Regulation
Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow John Berlau praised today’s Senate confirmation of President Trump’s nominee to head the powerful Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP)…
Blog
Senate Democrats’ Report Misses Mark on Mulvaney
While President Trump’s nominee to head the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, Kathleen Kraninger, awaits a final confirmation vote in the Senate, Senate Democrats have…
Breitbart
CFPB Nominee Kathleen Kraninger Clears Cloture Hurdle In Senate
Breitbart cited CEI’s Senior Fellow John Berlau and Policy Analyst Daniel Press on Kathleen Kraninger nomination. The vote was strictly along party lines,…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposing Extension of Electric Vehicle Tax Credits
We, the undersigned organizations, write to strongly object once again to any effort to expand the current electric vehicle tax credit in any way. The…
IA InsideARM
Senate Vote On Kraninger To Lead BCFP Expected Tomorrow
IA InsideARM cited CEI’s Senior Fellow John Berlau and Policy Analyst Daniel Press on BCFP nominee Kathleen Kraninger. As insideARM reported earlier,…
News Release
Senate Should Confirm Trump Nominee for Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection: CEI Statements
This week, the United States Senate is expected to vote on President Trump’s nominee to head the powerful Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. CEI financial…
Blog
Lame Duck Session Should Undo Crippling Rules on Middle-Class Investors and Entrepreneurs
Next year, with Congress divided once again, bipartisan legislation will be the order of the day. Indeed for passage of both chambers, it will be…
Blog
Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Needs to Rewrite Payday Loan Rule
Last week, I wrote a blog post on how the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection could go about narrowly rewriting the payday loan rule. This would…
Blog
How to Rewrite the Payday Loan Rule
Last Friday, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection announced that it will be reconsidering its’ controversial Payday, Vehicle Title, and High-Cost Installment Loan rule.
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…