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
Newsweek
What Trump’s Housing Executive Order Means for Mortgages
Newsweek cited CEI’s expert on mortgage costs However, John Berlau, financial policy director at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, called Trump’s proposal “misguided” and told Newsweek…
The Washington Post
Trump has lurched to the populist Left with recent economic proposals
The Washington Post cited CEI’s expert on financial policy “It won’t get to the root of the government-induced housing shortage, it will make things…
Blog
Trump’s credit card interest rate cap would kneecap everyday Americans
Credit cards are an indispensable tool in the modern economy. Most adults use them for everyday purchases, emergency spending, and managing cash flow. Yet more…
Search Posts
Blog
SEC Chairman Jay Clayton’s Comments on Cryptocurrencies Are Cause for Concern
Recent comments by SEC Chairman Jay Claytonmay signal an increasingly heavy-handed regulatory approach toward cryptocurrencies. Such an approach could curb innovation and prove counterproductive in fighting…
Newsmax
Stop Stealth Capital Gains Tax Hike in Senate Bill
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 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…
Compliance Week
Coalition Urges Congress to Halt CFPB Rule on ‘Payday’ Loans
Compliance Week covers CEI’s coalition letter urging Congress to stop the CFPB’s payday-loan rule. On Feb. 6, 23 free market groups led by the…
News Release
CEI Coalition Urges Congress to Stop CFPB Rule Curtailing Short-Term Consumer Loans
Today, 23 free market groups led by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) sent a letter to Congress asking lawmakers to stop the Consumer Financial…
Blog
The Myth of Independence at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The myth of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau independence invalidates the Bureau’s protection from the President and Congress. The extreme insulation is predicated on protecting the…
Letters
CEI Leads Coalition Letter Supporting Resolution Providing Congressional Disapproval of CFPB
View Full Document as PDF Dear Member of Congress: The undersigned organizations write in strong support of a resolution introduced in the…
Blog
SEC Should Investigate California Municipalities for Climate-Related Securities Fraud
It appears a variety of California municipalities have gotten themselves in hot water. To investors of their bonds, they have claimed that they are unable…
Reason
CFPB Is Constitutional, Court Rules, in Victory for Unaccountable Bureaucrats Everywhere
Reason discusses the ruling in PHH Corp. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with Iain Murray. The structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was…
News Release
Court Ruling on Constitutionality of CFPB Keeps Bureaucrats Unaccountable
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a disappointing ruling on the constitutionality of the controversial Consumer Financial Protection…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Urging Congress Not to Interfere With SEC Rulemaking on Paperless Delivery of Mutual Fund Reports
View Full Document as PDF Dear Chairmen: On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we write to urge opposition to any effort to…
Blog
Mulvaney Saving, Not ‘Dismantling,’ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Effective consumer protection does not require a body as unaccountable, powerful, and ideologically driven as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In short, it does not…
Blog
Trump Should Boost Bipartisan Access-to-Capital Bill in SOTU
If President Trump really wants to strike a note of bipartisanship in his State of the Union address, as well as promote measures to build…
U.S. News & World Report
Cutting Off Consumers
A new regulation will burden low- and middle-income Americans reliant on payday loans. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau just released a new rule against payday…
Las Vegas
Think Tank Releasing Report On New Jersey Challenge To Sports Betting Act
Las Vegas Review-Journal quotes Michelle Minton the impact on consumer freedom which a federal sports gambling known as PASPA poses. When the U.S.
The Hill
Congress Must Use Its Tools to Block Consumer Bureau’s Payday Loan Rule
Big things are happening at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a recently-created but unusually powerful government agency. Now temporarily headed by Trump’s Director of the Office…
Blog
7 Congressional Efforts the President Should Urge Members to Support
President Trump should use his State of the Union address to encourage members of Congress to pass these 7 bills immediately.
Bloomberg
Business Groups Attack ‘America First’ Merger Review Bill
RealClear Politics
It’s Time for Trump to Kill the Regulatory Swamp Monsters
RealClear Politics discusses the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s impact on financial regulation referencing CEI.
Blog
The State of Financial Regulation
President Trump will deliver his inaugural State of the Union address next week, where he will outline the administration’s agenda for the coming year. Here…
Blog
A New Day at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
According to Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will now stick to enforcing consumer protection laws as written, but not attempt go beyond that…
Blog
Durbin Amendment Update: No More Free Checking for the Poor
The Durbin Amendment strikes again. Today brings further evidence that the little-known amendment authored by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), which imposed price controls on…
Blog
Tax Reform Outperforms Government Programs on Community Investment
Tax reform is the gift that keeps on giving. Americans for Tax Reform has documented the ever-growing list of companies providing pay raises, bonuses, 401(k)…
Blog
Increasing Public Awareness Bolsters Potential for Blockchain Applications
Blockchain is a software architecture that seems very likely to unleash profound global forces if it crosses over into the mainstream.
JD Supra
Overturning the CFPB’s Final Payday Loan Rule by Reopening Rulemaking or CRA Resolution
JD Supra covers developments of the CFPB’s payday loan rule and Daniel Press’ “7 Reasons to Oppose the Federal Payday Loan Rule.” On December 1, 2018,…
Blog
Payday Loan Options Serve Consumers Well
Congress should use the Congressional Review Act to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s payday loan rule.
The Washington Times
White House Urged to Kill Obama-era Payday Lending Rule
The Washington Times covers CEI’s letter sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) regarding the payday-lending rule. A free-market group is urging…
Breitbart
Potential Nomination of McWatters to Head Up the CFPB Hits a Rough Patch
Breitbart discusses possible Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) nominee Mark McWatters with John Berlau. The potential nomination of National Credit Union Adminstration Chairman (NCUA)…
The National Law Review
Overturning the CFPB’s Final Payday Loan Rule by Reopening Rulemaking or CRA Resolution
The National Law Review discusses the various vehicles that could be used to repeal the CFPB’s small-dollar loan rule. On December 1, 2018, three…
News Release
House Financial Reform Plans Show Lawmakers Recognize Problems Caused by CFPB
This week, the House Financial Services Committee approved 15 bills on regulatory relief for community financial institutions, investment opportunities, access to financing for home buyers,…
News Release
CFPB Rule Against Small Dollar Loans Flunks Legal Requirement, CEI Informs Regulators
The Competitive Enterprise Institute released a letter sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) on January 11, 2018 asking…
Blog
The White House Can Save the Small-Dollar Loan Industry
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's small dollar loan rule should be retracted on Paperwork Reduction Act violations alone. …
USA Today
Federal Payday Lending Rule Could Face Repeal Amid New Battle
USA Today covers the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s decision to delay the small-dollar loan rule. Consumer advocates and business groups are battling anew over…
American Banker
Not So Fast: CFPB Effort to Reopen Payday Rule Faces Hurdles
American Banker covers the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s decision to delay the small-dollar loan rule. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau faces significant obstacles in…
The Hill
New CFPB Director Puts Target on Payday Loan Rules
The Hill covers the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s decision to delay the small-dollar loan rule. The new leaders of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau…
Blog
Taming the Beast: Reform Ideas for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s complicated, one-size-fits-all rules with high compliance costs favor large banks with armies of lawyers while restricting the working poor’s access…
Comment
CEI Letter to OMB Requesting Rejection of CFPB “Payday Lending” Rule
View Full Document as PDF Dear Ms. Rao: The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) hereby requests that OMB reject the information collection…
Blog
7 Reasons to Oppose the Federal Payday Loan Rule
Congress should use the Congressional Review Act to overturn the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's small dollar loan rule.
News Release
Report: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Payday Loan Rule Hurts the Working Poor
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rule against small dollar loans will hurt the working poor most, warns a new report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Study
How the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Payday Loan Rule Hurts the Working Poor
View Full Document as PDF Ariane is a 22-year-old single mother from Oakland, California. Working a low-wage job, she gets by paycheck…
Fox Business
Minimum Wage Hikes Sending Restaurants the Way of the Shopping Mall?
Fox Business discusses minimum wage hikes with Iain Murray. Eighteen states raised their minimum wages at the start of 2018, but increasing labor…
The New York Times
Blockchain or Blockheads? Bitcoin Mania Mints Believers and Skeptics
John Schwartz, writing for The New York Times, discusses Bitcoin with Jim Harper. Sometimes life shows you what absurd really…
Investor's Business Daily
Clipping The Corrupt CFPB’s Wings
Investor’s Business Daily covers the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s slush fund. We’ve been clear where we stand with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the…
The Washington Examiner
Trump Budget Chief Shuts Down Consumer ‘Protection’ Bureau ‘Slush Fund’
The Washington Examiner covers the review of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ‘slush fund.’ An educational “slush fund” used by the Consumer Financial Protection…
Fox Business
Red Robin Eliminates Bus Boys as Restaurants Combat Minimum Wage Hikes
Fox Business discusses minimum wage hikes with Iain Murray. At the beginning of January, minimum wage increases took effect in 18 states and…
One America News
VIDEO: John Berlau Discusses CFPB Slush Fund on One America News
One America News discusses Mick Mulvaney’s attempts to stop the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s slush fund with John Berlau. Watch the full…
JD Supra
The IRS Succeeds in Compelling Crypto Exchange to Disclose User Information
JD Supra covers an amicus brief by CEI in Coinbase v. United States. As the price of bitcoin leaps and lurches toward new highs,…
Bloomberg Politics
Bitcoin Falls Into Gray Area of Disclosure Rules for Congress
Bloomberg Politics discusses Bitcoin with Jim Harper. To guard against insider trading and financial conflicts, members of Congress and federal officials must file regular…
The Washington Post
Bitcoin Got a Big Boost in 2017. Here are 5 Other Cryptocurrencies to Watch in 2018.
The Washington Post discusses cryptocurrencies with Jim Harper. Mainstream investors spent much of last year trying to figure out how to jump in on …
Blog
Bitcoin’s Wonderful, Awful Year
Will Bitcoin’s social capital grow to justify the current high price?…
