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
News Release
Prepaid Credit Cards Subject to New Regulation – Statement by CEI’s John Berlau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is reportedly poised to impose new regulations on the prepaid card industry. John Berlau, senior fellow with the Competitive…
Blog
The Long National Nightmare of Dodd-Frank Is Almost Over
One of the prime reasons for the continuing economic uncertainty that bedevils so many ordinary Americans is the presence in law of the Dodd-Frank Act…
National Review
Obama’s Peanut-Brained Attack on MetLife
This article was originally published at the National Review on November 6, 2014. One day while sitting on the roof of his doghouse, Snoopy supposedly…
American Spectator
No Triple Mandate for the Federal Reserve
A recent speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen got considerable attention over her subtly implied suggestion that the Fed consider taking on a…
Washington Examiner
Minimum Wage, Maximum Damage
This article was originally published at the Washington Examiner on October 27, 2014. There are few policies more popular than increasing the federal minimum…
Forbes
Regulatory Barriers Are Holding Back Investing And Lending Opportunities For Crowdfunding
This article was originally published at Forbes on October 24, 2014 In a recent Forbes column on the costs of regulation, my Competitive…
The Blaze
Has Operation Choke Point Ended?
Has your bank account been canceled for no good reason? If you’re in a business the government doesn’t like, soon it could be. Firearm sellers,…
Forbes
The Troubling Prospect of Janet Yellen as Liberal Political Crusader
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s unprecedented speech on income inequality harbingers worrisome policy prescriptions by a central bank created to serve limited functions. Her…
Forbes
CFPB’s Loan Report Attacks Lenders Rather Than Empowering Students
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) recent annual student loan ombudsman report aims to help those falling behind with private lenders. However, its reactive…
Blog
The Economist: Interchange Fee Caps Benefit Large Retailers at Consumer Expense
Surprise! Price controls lead to unintended consequences—including transfers of wealth to parties who lobbied for those controls. That’s the actual – and unsurprising – result…
Blog
See Me at San Francisco Crowdfund Banking and Lending Summit
My colleague Wayne Crews’ Forbes column Monday explained “How Entrepreneurs Can Speak Out About the Cost of Regulation,” but noted sadly that “businesses that never form…
Washington Examiner
Fannie, Freddie Investors Undaunted by Court Loss
A representative of Fairholme Funds, one of the activist hedge funds that brought the lawsuits in both the District and Federal Claims courts, told the…
One News Now
Mobile Checking a “Scheme” or Good for Competition?
John Berlau discusses mobile checking with One News Now: "This week, an article in Salon calls it a scheme to prey on America's…
National Review
Dodd-Frank Will Cripple American Energy
The two recent federal court decisions on Obamacare subsidies — one for, one against — prompted fevered reactions and discussion. By contrast, two recent rulings…
Providence Journal
Disastrous Application of Dodd-Frank Law to Insurance Company
The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), an unaccountable, secretive task force of financial bureaucrats created by the Dodd-Frank “financial reform” act of 2010, has decided…
Letters
Letter to House Financial Services Subcommittee on Rights of Private Shareholders
View the Full Letter Here The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), in a coalition of 17 conservative and free-market public policy leaders, sent…
Blog
Lesson from Ex-Im Fight: More Agencies Should Have Sunsets
Congress hasn’t voted just yet on the Continuing Resolution that includes the Export-Import Bank’s reauthorization. But we already know that it will pass this week,…
News Release
Coalition Letter: Conservative and Free-Market Leaders Urge House Finance Committee to Protect Private Property and Shareholders’ Rights
WASHINGTON – Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), in a coalition of 17 conservative and free-market public policy leaders, sent a letter to Chairman Patrick…
Investor's Business Daily
Ex-Im Bank Fight Shows How We Can Sunset More Useless Agencies
As far as flash-point issues go, the Export-Import Bank is about as unlikely as it gets. Few people have even heard of Ex-Im, a federal…
Blog
Dueling Ex-Im Commentary
A vote on the Continuing Resolution, which includes the controversial Export-Import Bank reauthorization was originally scheduled for today, but has been pushed back to next…
Blog
Don’t Tie Ex-Im Renewal to Government Shutdown
It appears Congress will decide the Export-Import Bank’s short-term fate this week. There are several bills with different reauthorization terms, and Rep. Justin Amash and…
Blog
Nationalizing Bitcoin?
The phrase “if you can’t beat them, join them” seems so applicable in light of the Commonwealth of Dominica announcing plans…
Blog
You’re a SIFI, Charlie Brown
“Good grief!” That’s what the Charlie Brown, star of comic strip Peanuts and cartoon spokesman for the MetLife insurance firm, might say about the government’s…
Newsmax
Oversight Council Declares MetLife Too Big to Fail
“Good grief!” That’s what Charlie Brown, star of comic strip Peanuts and cartoon spokesman for the MetLife insurance firm, might say about the government’s actions…
Blog
Ex-Im Update
Congress comes back from its annual August recess next week. One of the top items on its agenda is deciding the Export-Import Bank’s fate. Ex-Im…
The Daily Caller
Eric Holder Avenges Investor Fraud By Taking From Victimized Investors
“Bank of America failed to make accurate and complete disclosure to investors and its illegal conduct kept investors in the dark,” declared a government official…
Blog
Eric Holder Avenges Investor Fraud by Taking from Defrauded Investors
“Bank of America failed to make accurate and complete disclosure to investors and its illegal conduct kept investors in the dark,” declared a government official…
Blog
The Impending BitLicense and Premature Regulations
Last month, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) announced its proposed regulations for businesses engaged in “Virtual Currency Business Activity.”The Department defines these businesses…
Newsmax
Govt Meddling Creates Auto Loan Mess
Should we worry about a crisis in subprime auto loans? That question has been asked in the financial media lately. As I said recently…
Study
Cutting the Gordian Knot: A Road Map for British Exit from the European Union
This study was originally published at the Institute for Economic Affairs as a finalist for the 2014 IEA Brexit Prize coauthored with Rory…
Blog
The Ex-Im Bank’s Unilateral Disarmament Fallacy
One of the weakest arguments against free trade is the "unilateral disarmament" fallacy--that a country should refuse to liberalize its trade policies until other countries…
Blog
The Case for Closing the Export-Import Bank
Over at American Banker’s BankThink blog, I have a piece making the case for closing the Export-Import Bank, mostly on corruption grounds: The…
Blog
New Study Estimates around $70 billion in Financial Regulatory Costs
Complying with regulations is part of the cost of doing business. For bigger businesses that can absorb those costs (or rather, pass them on to…
Study
Operation Choke Point
Can the government shut down legal but politically disfavored businesses? If an ongoing federal regulatory campaign continues, that may be precisely what happens.
Forbes
SEC Crowdfunding Barriers At South By Southwest
In mid-July, South by Southwest (SXSW) – the Austin-based yearly festival that brings together the creators of film, music and technology every March – trekked…
News Release
“Operation Choke Point” Targets Legal Businesses, Harms American Consumers
Washington, D.C., July 31 – A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report digs into a campaign by federal regulatory agencies to shut down businesses that are…
Products
Dodd-Frank is the new ObamaCare
“If you like your life, home, and auto insurance, you can keep them.” No, President Obama didn’t utter those words when he signed the Dodd-Frank…
Blog
Bitcoin’s Undiscovered Potential
A recent piece in American Banker magazine explores how Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can help the underprivileged, particularly the millions of unbanked people who…
Blog
Subprime Auto Concerns Caused by Government Intervention
Should we worry about a crisis in subprime auto loans? That question has been asked in the financial media lately. My answer is yes, with…
Products
New CEI Report Gives 10 Reasons to Abolish the Corrupt Export-Import Bank
New CEI Report Gives 10 Reasons to Abolish the Corrupt Export-Import Bank Time to End One of Government’s Largest Corporate Welfare Programs WASHINGTON,…
The National Review
The Federal Reserve Overreaches
Is the Federal Reserve after your debit and credit cards? In a move little noticed except by those in the payments industry, the Federal Reserve…
Study
Ten Reasons to Abolish the Export-Import Bank
This year’s Ex-Im Bank reauthorization is gearing up to be an even bigger fight. Here's 10 reasons why the Export-Import Bank should be abolished.
The Washington Examiner
Big Ideas: On Dodd-Frank,
As with Obamacare, unintended consequences of [the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law] almost immediately began to surface. First, there was a sharp reduction in free…
The National Review
Dodd-Frank Is Like Obamacare
"If you like your life, home, and auto insurance, you can keep them.” President Obama didn’t make this promise when he signed into law the…
Blog
Cronyism and the Export-Import Bank
Over at Rare, I have a piece on the cronyism angle of the Export-Import Bank debate. The Senate will likely vote this on month on whether…
Rare
Why Ronald Reagan would kill the Export-Import Bank
One of my favorite economics jokes is the Tullock Economic Development Plan. Devised by the influential public choice economist Gordon Tullock, it involves taxing everyone…
Blog
Dodd-Frank Is Obamacare for Non-Health Insurance
“If you like your life, home, and auto insurance, you can keep them.” President Obama didn’t make this promise when he signed into law the…
Blog
Finance for the People
Over at The Freeman, I take a look at how technology has been democratizing access to capital, bringing news ways of raising money to people…
Blog
Ex-Im Reauthorization Fight: Release the Reagan
The Export-Import Bank is up for reauthorization in September. If the vote fails in Congress, the Bank and its $140 billion portfolio will cease to…
The Freeman
Finance for the People
Financial innovation: People like to talk a lot about it these days. But what is it? If you read the business press, it’s all about…
The Blaze
Obama Admin. Is Getting Grilled About a Massive Mortgage Database That Could Be Used for Criminal Investigations
Defying conventional wisdom as he often does, Pulitzer Prize-winning pundit (and fellow Newsmax Insider) George F. Will disputed the notion that in the wake of…
Blog
Questions for Richard Cordray
This morning, Richard Cordray, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Board, testifies to a House Committee on the Board's semi-annual report. One of the Board's…
Blog
Cantor’s Loss a Warning Shot to Supporters of Ex-Im Bank and Johnson-Crapo
Defying conventional wisdom as he often does, Pulitzer prize-winning pundit George F. Will disputed the notion that in the wake of the shocking primary loss…
Blog
Laughing All the Way to the Export-Import Bank
The Kronies are back with a video about the Export-Import Bank, one of the federal government’s largest corporate welfare programs. While the video is less than…
News Release
Report: Job Growth Greater With Family Businesses
WASHINGTON, May 20 – Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) published a new study showing state and local governments could see more job growth…
Forbes
Government Employee Unions Tee Up California’s Bankruptcy
Half a Billion Dollars. That’s how much the California Teachers Association and the powerful Service Employees International Union have spent on California politics since 2000.
Money News
Johnson-Crapo Bill Furthers Govt Housing Mess
Yesterday, after delays and much opposition from many quarters on different grounds, the Johnson-Crapo housing finance overhaul cleared the Senate Banking Committee. The vote was…
Reason
Choke Point Check-In: Constitutional Concerns in DOJ Targeting ‘Risky’ Businesses
Operation Choke Point was initially pitched as a crackdown on web-based payday lending businesses that lend into states that prohibit it. Now it may have…
Forbes
How to Ease the Crushing Costs of Federal Regulations
“You can look at the federal budget and see what we spend. There is nothing like that with respect to regulations. I tabulate the annual…
The National Review
Fannie and Freddie on Steroids
A corollary to Shakespeare’s adage “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” is that “garbage by any other name would smell as…
News Release
Conservative and Free-Market Leaders Urge Senate to Reject Johnson-Crapo Housing Finance Overhaul
Washington, D.C., April 23—The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) in a coalition of 26 public policy leaders sent a letter to members of the Senate Banking…
Forbes
Dueling Visions For Taxing Times: Grover Norquist v. Robert Reich
This is why I got into radio: A pairing of guests representing two competing visions for the nation’s economic future, each making their case in…
Forbes
Dueling Visions For Taxing Times: Grover Norquist v. Robert Reich
This is why I got into radio: A pairing of guests representing two competing visions for the nation’s economic future, each making their case in…
Newsmax
Dodd-Frank Reined In by Democratic Judges
As the late March weather alternates between winter and spring, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today blew a nice cool breeze of common sense.
The American Spectator
Praying for an Obamacare Escape
Matt Drudge’s widely discussed mid-March tweet that he has already paid Obamacare’s “liberty tax” highlights the uncertainties the self-employed face both from the health care…
Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal
Proposed SEC Rules On Crowdfunding Threaten Access To Capital By Locking Out Ordinary Investors
In submitted comments, John Berlau of the Competitive Enterprise Institute argued that the proposed rules could result in “costly, paternalistic requirements on crowdfunding that have…
Forbes
Why Bitcoin Must Die. Long Live Bitcoin 2.0.
One day, there will be a global digital currency in widespread commercial use whose value will not be controlled by central banks. Governments can forestall…
Comment
Comments to the SEC by John Berlau on Crowdfunding
In comments submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), CEI Senior Fellow John Berlau warns that new SEC rules impacting crowdfunding could…
News Release
Proposed SEC Rules on Crowdfunding Threaten Access to Capital By Locking Out Ordinary Investors
Washington, DC, Feb. 6, 2014 – This week marked the deadline for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to accept public comments on proposed…
News Release
Dodd-Frank “Diversity” Hiring Quotas Unconstitutional
Washington, DC, Feb. 6, 2014 – The Dodd-Frank Act regulates the financial sector, but what many people do not know is how far its…
Comment
CEI comments on Dodd-Frank proposed diversity statement Docket No OP-1465
Blog
CEI Podcast for January 23, 2014: CEI Appeals Affordable Care Act Lawsuit Verdict
General Counsel Sam Kazman explains the case's importance not just for health care, but for the rule of law.
Forbes
The Antigua Forum: Exporting A Different Kind of Latin American Revolution
Call it the “Free Market Davos.” The Antigua Forum, sponsored by Universidad Francisco Marroquín, in Guatemala, finished its third annual conference last week. For three…
National Review
Obamaloans
We know the pattern by now. A crisis arises. As my Competitive Enterprise Institute colleague Chris Horner puts it, this administration says, “There’s no time…
Washington Times
Stop the money presses!
Leading up to Janet Yellen’s Jan. 6 confirmation vote, the Federal Reserve recently announced that it will taper back its bond-buying program, known as quantitative…
Daily Caller
The Volcker Rule is Obamacare for main street banks and their customers
You might think after the disastrous debut of HealthCare.gov and thousands of insurance cancellations, those who call themselves progressives might just have a little humility…
Forbes
Fed Readies Reverse Repo Hoping To Soak Up QE Cash
Everyone, it seems, loves asset inflation. What could be more satisfying than watching the value of your home, your stocks, and your 401(k) soar, especially…
News Release
Volcker Rule Could Cause Financial Storm, Warn CEI Scholars
Washington, DC, Dec. 11, 2013 – Amid the snow that seemed to paralyze DC yesterday, bureaucrats issued a final regulation on Dodd-Frank’s Volcker Rule that…
McClatchy DC
Regulatory bullying? You bet your life
If companies failed in insurance pursuits, many people would suffer, but the financial system would not be affected in a major way. It is additionally…
Forbes
The American/US Airways Case Highlights The Absurdity Of Antitrust Regulation
“If the airlines have a history of anti-competitive behavior, they are the least able practitioners of the art in the history of mankind.” This was…
News Release
Government “Study” on Internet Tax Hides Harmful Small Business Effects
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 – Under presidents of both parties, the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy has produced top-notch independent studies on the harm the…
The American Spectator
The Unintended Consequences Of Credit Card Regulation
When you try to regulate things, you’re really regulating people. If there’s one crucial lesson to keep in mind about regulation, this is it. And…
Forbes
Janet Yellen To Too-Big-To-Fail Banks: Party On!
The king is dead; long live the king. As America’s great money printer prepares to hand over the reins to a presumptive successor determined to…
NC Register
Obamacare Threatens to Hit Many Families’ Pocketbooks
Letters
Coalition Letter on Extension for Pay Ratio
Full Document Available in PDF The undersigned organizations, institutions, and nonprofits interested in fostering entrepreneurship represent hundreds of thousands of businesses, small…
Providence Journal
Labyrinthine law threatens our life insurance now
Dodd-Frank, the law more properly known as the 2010 Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, was intended to stabilize the financial system and end…
Letters
Open Letter to House and Senate Republican Leadership: Preserve the Sequester
CEI has joined a coalition urging Congress to maintain the spending restraint established by the Budget Control Act of 2011(BCA). The BCA established limits on…
News Release
Questions for Yellen
WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 – It’s not every day we get a new chair of the Fed. It is a time to check the fundamental bearings…
Study
Questions for Federal Reserve Nominee Janet Yellen
Full Document Available in PDF Janet Yellen is President Obama’s choice to succeed Ben Bernanke as the Federal Reserve Chair. Yellen is…
Providence Journal
How to Fix Too Big to Fail
As the Competitive Enterprise Institute points out in its constitutional challenge to Dodd-Frank, Title I of the law gives the FSOC the ability to…
Forbes
The International Monetary Fund Lays The Groundwork For Global Wealth Confiscation
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) quietly dropped a bomb in its October Fiscal Monitor Report. Titled “Taxing Times,” the report paints a dire picture for…
Human Events
How the Shutdown Can Inform the Debt Ceiling Debate
Co-authored by George Landrith. It’s all-shutdown-all-the-time in Washington these days. But all that talk has obscured the far bigger challenge facing the nation next week,…
Daily Caller
‘Why now?’ Fitch’s downgrade threat raises questions
“My question is ‘Why now?’” John Berlau, an economist at the free market Competitive Enterprise Institute, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “I just have…
News Release
Ten Questions for Janet Yellen
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 – Janet Yellen is President Obama’s choice to succeed Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve Chair. She has extensive experience with the Federal…
News Release
Yellen Pick Shows Left Unconcerned With Value of The Dollar, CEI Analysts Say
WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 – Janet Yellen, now vice-chair of the Federal Reserve, has been selected by President Obama to lead the Fed. She is said…
Washington Examiner
Obama White House closing private businesses to add pain to government shutdown
Obama administration officials are using the government shutdown as an excuse to shut down privately-run tourist attractions, even though doing so costs the government far…
News Release
Twitter – and Investors – Gain from JOBS Act Regulatory Relief
WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 – In its much-anticipated initial public offering filing released Thursday night, Twitter unveiled a company with some room for growth – much…
Washington Examiner
Government Shutdown, Italian Style
Misery loves company, goes the old saying. And in the face of government shutdown, America is not entirely alone. Head to Italy and the average…
Blog
Obamacare Quadruples Rates for Some, Subsidizes Some Wealthy Who Retired Early
Due to Obamacare, North Carolina "will see individual-market" health insurance rates "triple for women, and quadruple for men." In Tennessee, Obamacare will…
Washington Examiner
Lessons from Italy: What happens when businesses are forced to move abroad
Co-written by Emilio Rocca THE 42 employees of Firem, an Italian heating systems maker, returned from their August holidays to find the plant where they…
