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
Blog
House should follow Senate in slashing BBB’s remittance tax–or eliminate it entirely
President Trump has made it clear that he wants a budget reconciliation package on his desk by July 4. In its final version of the…
Daily Calller
Social Security Now Headed For Insolvency Even Sooner Than Expected
Daily Caller cited CEI’s experts on Social Security spending Congress can’t keep dodging entitlement reform. Social Security’s $28 trillion in unfunded liabilities is about the…
Blog
GENIUS Act needs free market fixes before it graduates to law
Yesterday, the US Senate voted to approve a regulatory regime for stablecoins. This vote represents one of the most significant milestones for cryptocurrency since the…
Search Posts
The Wall Street Journal
The SEC Wants to Be Your Nanny
A proposed rule would limit investments in risky funds to those with ‘financial sophistication,’ putting middle-class investors at a disadvantage.
The Washington Examiner
AOC Spreads Disinformation to Push Socialism Amid Coronavirus Panic
The Washington Examiner cites Research Fellow Richard Morrison on AOC’s comparison of the Fed’s response to COVID-19 and student loan debt relief: The…
Blog
As Supreme Court Debates CFPB Constitutionality, Agency Accountability Hangs in the Balance
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week over the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and whether, as currently structured, it is too…
Fox News
AOC Criticized For ‘Inapt’ Comparison Between Fed’s Coronavirus Response And Student Loan Debt Relief
Fox News cites Senior Fellow Richard Morrison on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s comments on the coronavirus: But according to Competitive Enterprise Institute fellow Richard Morrison, Ocasio-Cortez was…
Blog
SEC’s Proposed Rules Would Take ETFs out of the Hands of Middle-Class Investors
CEI recently signed on to a coalition letter encouraging the Securities and Exchange Commission to abandon its plans to further regulate certain financial products and…
Blog
Chairman Crapo Offers Hope for Safe Banking in Controversial Industries
Last October, the House passed the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act to provide safe harbor for banks and credit unions doing business with…
The Washington Times
Don’t Let the SEC Snatch Funds from Middle-Class Investors
In recent speeches, President Trump hailed deregulation as key to fueling big economic gains for all types of workers. Mr. Trump reminded Americans in his…
Blog
Democratic Witnesses Oppose Interest Rate Cap
American Banker ran a piece last week on a proposed law to impose an interest rate cap on small-dollar loans. While the hearing revealed the…
Blog
Interest Rate Caps Harm Financial Inclusion; Bank Partnerships Spread Inclusion Around
The House Financial Services Committee held a hearing last week on small-dollar lending and proposed legislation that would limit the interest rates on such loans.
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter to SEC on Leveraged/Inverse Investment Vehicles
On November 25, 2019, the Commission re-proposed rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, proposed new rule 15l-2 under the Securities Exchange Act…
Blog
CFPB Takes a Step to End Regulation by Enforcement
After almost a decade of ambiguity, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has finally offered some clarity to its definition of what constitutes an “abusive” practice…
Blog
Divisions Between Bank Regulators Over Fair-Lending Revamp Highlight the Need for Outright Repeal
Despite hesitation from the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has made clear that they plan to push forward with…
Forbes
Fed Continues to Disregard Rules When Putting Forth Its Own Rules
President Trump hasn’t minced words on his criticisms of the Federal Reserve. Now he has some backup from Congress’ bipartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO), which…
Blog
Despite Naysayers, Consumer Finance Panelists are Uniquely Qualified to Tackle Barriers to Financial Inclusion
Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection announced the membership of the newly created Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law, which will work to “harmonize and…
Comment
Comments on Proposed Rule Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain
On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”), we are pleased to provide the following comments on the Department of Commerce’s proposed regulation concerning the…
News Release
CEI Board Member Todd Zywicki to Head CFPB Task Force on Consumer Financial Law
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today announced that Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) board member and George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law Todd Zywicki…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter on SEC Decision RE Consolidated Audit Trail Database
Dear Chairman Clayton, We, the undersigned organizations, write today to express our grave concerns with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) decision to require broker-dealers…
The Daily Caller
BARR: The Fed Overreaches With Real-Time Payment Systems
The Daily Caller cites CEI on the 1980 Monetary Control Act. As the Competitive Enterprise Institute has pointed out, the 1980 Monetary Control…
Foreign Policy
Bid to Revive Export-Import Bank Runs Aground
Foreign Policy cites Senior Fellow Ryan Young on the Ex-Im bank: “It’s the ‘they do it, too’ fallacy,” said Ryan Young of the…
Blog
White House Blocks Most Green Energy Tax Credits in Final Spending Bill
The spending packages to fund the federal government through the end of the 2020 fiscal year ending on October 1st, which were passed by the…
Blog
Congress Racing To Extend and Expand Electric Vehicle, Wind, and Solar Tax Credits
It would be comforting to think that the House’s impeachment proceedings have so poisoned relations between Democrats and Republicans that the Congress won’t be able…
Blog
Don’t Just “Modernize” Community Reinvestment Act, Repeal It
On Thursday, financial regulators released a long-awaited reform proposal which would make substantial changes to the implementation and enforcement of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter to House Republicans on NFIP Rates
Dear Minority Leader McCarthy, Minority Whip Scalise, and Ranking Member McHenry: Our organizations write in response to the recent letter from 64 members to…
Daily Caller
Sarbanes-Oxley is Hampering Investment—Look For Trump’s SEC to Fix It
“In the risk reform debate, as in so many political debates, logic is often for losers.” So lamented Competitive Enterprise Institute founder and president emeritus Fred L.
Blog
Wind and Solar Tax Credits: Special Interest Subsidies
The House Ways and Means Committee on November 19th released a draft of its “Growing Renewable Energy and Efficiency Now (GREEN) Act” (summary). The sponsors propose to extend,…
Blog
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Should End Frivolous Student Loan Lawsuit
The efforts of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Kathy Kraninger have gone a long way in reversing egregious Obama-era actions that plagued the agency,…
The Washington Times
Congress Can Fix Legal Marijuana Business Banking Problem
Violent and property crime rates have decreased over the past 25 years, so it’s telling that instances of robbery or burglary against one sort of…
News Release
CEI Opposes Waters Ex-Im Bank Reauthorization Bill
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) opposes a bill authored by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) that would reauthorize Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) operations. The bill is…
NewsMax
CFPB’s Kraninger Catching Flak—and Hitting Her Targets
An anonymous World War II bomber pilot may be the source of the saying, “If you’re not catching flak, you’re not hitting your target.” But today, the…
Blog
Export-Import Bank Reauthorization Update
It is busy a time right now in the Export-Import Bank reauthorization battle. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) introduced a new bill to reauthorize the Export-Import…
Blog
Celebrate Consumer Finance Law Modernization
Earlier this month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it will create a taskforce to “harmonize and modernize federal consumer financial laws.” The Taskforce…
Blog
In Praise of Pro-Consumer Tenure of Finance Regulator Kraninger
As she prepares to give her semi-annual testimony to Congress this week—on Wednesday to the House Financial Services Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and on Thursday…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter in Support of the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act of 2019
We are heartened by the committee’s decision to host a hearing on challenges to cannabis banking. In particular, we have the hearing brings attention to…
Blog
Like Socialism, Financial Transaction Tax Doomed to Fail
In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith coins the four maxims of taxation: fairness, certainty, convenience, and efficiency. Smith’s maxims are used as a litmus…
Blog
Feds: Gambling Fine, But Investing Too Risky
“In the risk reform debate, as in so many political debates, logic is often for losers.” So lamented Competitive Enterprise Institute founder and president emeritus…
Blog
Protect Consumers, But Let Debt Collectors Do Their Jobs
Debt collector seem to be the occupation everyone loves to hate, but without them businesses large and small—from banks to gyms to doctor’s offices—could not serve…
Blog
Ex-Im Bank Reauthorization: Lesson in Institutional Design
For all its flaws, the Export-Import Bank’s charter gets an important thing right: the agency must be reauthorized every few years, or it will close.
Comment
CEI Comments Before the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection on Proposed Rule on Debt Collection Practices
Thanks to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection’s extension of its deadline to comment on the proposed rule on debt collection practices, we take this…
Blog
Export-Import Bank Fight Not Over Yet
The Export-Import Bank’s charter is currently set to expire on September 30. If authorization lapses, the agency will shut down. On Thursday, the House passed…
Blog
Ex-Im Bank Reauthorization: Major Victory against Cronyism, Despite Setback
Nobel laureate economist Ronald Coase wrote in his 1975 essay “Economists and Public Policy” that “An economist who, by his efforts, is able to postpone…
Blog
Reform Proposal Addresses Cronyism in Government-Backed Mortgages
Earlier this year, the Trump administration issued an executive memorandum directing the Department of the Treasury to “develop a plan for administrative and legislative reforms” of…
Blog
Study on Export-Import Bank: Repeal Is Best, Other Reforms Can Help
The Export-Import Bank is up for reauthorization by September 30. It should be shut down, as I’ve pointed out before, but reauthorization will almost certainly…
Study
How the Ex-Im Bank Enables Cronyism and Wastes Taxpayer Money
The U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) is a federal agency that seeks to boost exports by private U.S. businesses. It pursues its mission through loan guarantees,…
Blog
Welfare for Billionaires: Stadium Subsidies Are Pure Cronyism
Our old friend (and former Competitive Enterprise Institute journalism fellow) Tim Carney is doing excellent work at the American Enterprise Institute these days, where he…
News Release
GSE Reform Proposal a Positive Step Towards Reducing Government Role in Housing Finance
The Treasury Department today released a proposal aimed at reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both Government Sponsored Entities or "GSEs." According to the proposal,…
Blog
Marijuana Industry Bank Reform on Capitol Hill Agenda
While the continued legalization of recreational and medicinal use of marijuana at the state level has undoubtedly been a win for liberty, there remains much…
Blog
Debt Collectors Keep Credit Market Flowing
Debt collecting is a profession that gets little love, but given the social good done by debt collectors who operate ethically and follow the rules,…
Comment
CEI Comments on CFPB Proposed Rule on Debt Collection Practice
On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI"), we are pleased to provide the following comment letter on the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection’s (“Bureau”…
The Washington Times
Trump’s Tariff Delay on China Eases Christmas Worries, Sends Markets Higher
The Washington Times cites Senior Fellow Ryan Young on tariffs: Ryan Young, a senior fellow at the free market Competitive Enterprise Institute, said…
The Kevin Miller Show
Kevin Miller 6am 080819
CEI President and CEO Kent Lassman joined the Kevin Miller Show to discuss the state of the economy.
