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
Blog
Freddie Mac’s Loss Shows Need to Protect Taxpayers from GSE Raids
I wish baseball great Yogi Berra were still here—upon the release of Freddie Mac’s new quarterly report showing a sudden Q3 loss—so he could offer…
Blog
Equity Crowdfunding at Last, But Still Incomplete
More than three years after the JOBS Act was signed into law by President Obama, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today will finally vote…
TribLive
Stopping the Government’s Raid on Savings
TribLive interviews John Berlau on the Department of Labor's proposed "fiduciary rule," laying out the dangers of this proposed policy. The rule would…
Blog
CEI at Money20/20
I’m here on the Las Vegas Strip at Money20/20, a trade show and forum in the area of FinTech—a term used to describe a…
Blog
Onions Have No Futures
Lots of people object to markets in certain commodities. Kidneys, archeological relics, adoption rights, and a host of more prosaic items have been deemed by…
Newsmax
Govt Vies for Control Over Your Investment Decisions
John Berlau writes in Newsmax about the recent CEI headed coalition letter to Congress urging them to defund the DOL's "fiduciary rule." A…
Litigation
Challenging Dodd-Frank: State National Bank of Big Spring v. Mnuchin
The Competitive Enterprise Institute, the 60 Plus Association, and the State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas brought a lawsuit in 2012 challenging the constitutionality…
The Hill
Overnight Finance: Path clears for Ryan; GOP backing off debt-limit bill
The Hill interviews John Berlau on CEI's recent coalition letter written to Congress urging them to defund the Department of Labor's fiduciary rule.
Blog
33 Groups Call on Congress to Defund Portfolio Attack by Labor Department
Today, a coalition letter signed by leaders of 33 leaders of free-market and conservative public policy organizations urges Congress to defund the Department of…
News Release
CEI-Led Coalition Asks Congress to Help Middle Class and Stop Labor Dept Fiduciary Rule
Thirty-three conservative and free-market groups, coordinated by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, sent a coalition letter today urging congressional leaders to defund the destructive “fiduciary rule”…
Daily Caller
The Bipartisan Push Back Against Obama’s Retirement Attack
The Daily Caller details CEI's recent coalition letter written to Congress detailing the restrictions the Department of Labor's fiduciary rule places on Americans and their…
Letters
Coalition Letter Urging Congressional Leaders to Defund the Department of Labor’s “Fiduciary Rule”
Full Document Available in PDF Dear Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader McConnell: We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, represent millions of Americans…
Blog
Back to the Future in Payments Technology
One of the things Back to the Future Part II almost got right about 2015 was how Biff paid for his cab ride—with a thumbprint. A lot…
Daily Caller
Clinton Donor Lobbied State For Taxpayer-Backed Loans, Emails Reveal
The Daily Caller references Ryan Young's paper on the Overseas Private Investment Corporation as it faced its charter expiration date this fall. The…
Daily Caller
Why Warren’s Witch-Hunt Won’t Work
CEI's expert John Berlau writes for The Daily Caller discussing Elizabeth Warren's desire for an increase in financial regulations. Elizabeth Warren “drew blood,”…
NewsMax
Elizabeth Warren Wants to Make Financial Decisions For You
John Berlau discusses Elizabeth Warren's pushes for excessive financial regulations in his piece published in News Max. Elizabeth Warren “drew blood,” writes Washington…
Blog
Warren Bullies Not Just Litan But Consumers
Elizabeth Warren “drew blood,” writes Washington Post reporter Tom Hamburger. “Elizabeth Warren Claims Another Scalp,” reads the headline of an excellent piece by John Fund at National Review…
Legal Brief
Amicus Brief: PHH Corporation v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
Full Document Available in PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute, the 60 Plus Association, and the State National Bank of Big Spring filed…
Epoch Times
8 Reasons Congress Should End Taxpayer Support for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation
Epoch Times references CEI's Ryan Young for information on why Congress should allow the Overseas Private Investment Corporation's charter to expire. OPIC claims…
The Hill
A Simple Way to Grow America’s Economy and Create Jobs
Coauthored with Lindsay Lewis, executive director of the Progressive Policy Institute. It’s hard to find common ground between the two parties in Washington these days,…
The Daily Caller
OPIC Is The New Ex-Im: House GOP Could Split Again Over Crony Capitalism
The Daily Caller mentions Ryan Young’s report on the Overseas Private Investment Corporation: A recent report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)…
Blog
Transparency in Card Fees: Where Does the Argument Stop?
There are three ways banks that issue credit and debit cards can gain revenue from them: interest rates (in the case of credit cards) charged…
Study
Real Goals to Empower the Developing World
The United Nations is soon due to replace its ambitious Millennium Development Goals with a new set of far more extensive and even more ambitious…
Blog
Australian Reserve Bank Gets the Economics Wrong on Interchange Fees
A new report commissioned by the International Alliance for Electronic Payments, of which CEI is a member, finds that the Reserve Bank of Australia…
USA Today
Hillary Clinton’s Right on Smashing ‘Quarterly Capitalism’
“Quarterly capitalism” is a new focus of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign that could pick up even more steam with recent market turmoil. “It’s easy to…
News Release
Fiduciary rule set for Thursday House hearing
As the House Financial Services Committee hearing convenes Thursday on the Department of Labor’s “fiduciary rule,” Competitive Enterprise Institute senior fellow John Berlau hopes committee…
Opportunity Lives
California’s Pension System is Headed Off a Cliff – Here’s How We Can Fix It
Here at Opportunity Lives, we’ve covered how Americans are hungry for news with a solutions bias. One bearer of such news is Lawrence J. McQuillan,…
Blog
CEI’s Coalition Letter to Prevent New Bailouts of Fannie and Freddie
As the Dodd-Frank “financial reform” celebrated its fifth anniversary this summer, just about every financial business—as well as many nonfinancial firms—have come under its thumb.
Letters
CEI Coalition Letter supporting H.R. 1673 to Prevent New Fannie-Freddie Bailouts
View the PDF Here Open Letter to the House and Senate: Protect Taxpayers from Another Fannie/Freddie Bailout – Enact the Enterprise…
Blog
Savers Oppose “Fiduciary Rule” Sold by Labor Department as “Protecting” Them
“A fundamental shift in Wall Street culture” is what the Department of Labor is aiming for with the “fiduciary rule.” That’s what DOL Deputy Assistant…
Blog
Dodd-Frank Act Strangles Small Banks
The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act was enacted partly to end “too-big-to-fail” banks, but it has done quite the opposite. It has curbed competition with big banks…
The Freeman
Liquid Capital Was the First Killer App
The sharing economy is older than smartphone apps. The modern financial system may be the first example to have evolved. Rather than sharing capital assets…
Blog
CEI and Allies Submit Evidence to Australian Senate Inquiry on Credit Cards
Today, CEI and other members of the International Alliance for Electronic Payments joined the Australian Taxpayers Alliance in submitting evidence to an Australian Senate inquiry into credit…
Comment
IAEP Submission to Australian Senate on Credit Card Interest Payments
Full Document Available in PDF Credit card interest rates and other features are only partly driven by factors such as the Reserve…
Blog
Financial Regulation and Payments Update: July 31, 2015
Last week saw the fifth anniversary of Dodd-Frank and there was a great deal of commentary from opponents of the act, not least from us…
Blog
Democratic Judges Green-Light CEI’s Challenge to Dodd-Frank
Just days after President Obama touted the supposed achievements of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law on its fifth birthday, a unanimous judicial panel—including an Obama…
Comment
CEI Comments on Labor Department Fiduciary Rule
Full Document Available in PDF Dear Sir or Madam, On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute and FreedomWorks Foundation, we are pleased…
Blog
Not Dodd-Frank, Not Glass-Steagall, But Real Competition to End TBTF
Progressives cheered Hillary Clinton last week when she said policy makers need to “go beyond Dodd-Frank.” She didn’t rule out repeal of some sections, but most…
Study
How Dodd-Frank Harms Main Street
The financial crisis of 2007-2008 was a drastic shock to the American economy. Now five years after being signed into law, Dodd-Frank was just as powerful…
Study
A Bird in the Hand and No Banks in the Bush
Full Document Available in PDF Radio Shack. Borders Books and Music. Blockbuster Video. Eastman Kodak. These are the names of…
Blog
The SEC Sinks Its Claws Deeper into Executive Pay Packages
Once upon a time critics of corporate America complained that executive salaries were too high, and too often disconnected from the performance of the firm.
Blog
Federal Financial Aid Drives Up Tuition and College Costs, Study Finds
The federal government is now admitting that its own financial aid is partly to blame for rising tuition, reports Blake Neff in The Daily Caller:…
Heartland
Department of Education Presses for New Authority Over Banks
The Heartland cites CEi`s John Berlau on the new rule on student loans proposed by the Department of Education: Under the proposed rule, banks…
Products
Controversy builds at U.S. consumer protection bureau
The Human Events quotes CEI`s John Berlau on the Consumer Protection Bureau office renovations:…
News Release
Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today on a case involving what constitutes housing discrimination, deciding in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v.
Blog
Dodd-Frank Conflict Minerals Rules Cause Smuggling, Starvation, and Harm to U.S. Businesses
The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act effectively restricted U.S. business’s ability to obtain minerals from the war-torn nation of the Congo and surrounding countries. That caused massive …
News Release
Statement on Obama “Fiduciary Rule” Vote Today
Today, a House committee is poised to mark up a plan to block the Obama administration's so-called "fiduciary rule," which would restrict the investment choices…
Blog
The Right to Choose Your Investment Partner
The following is an abridged and revised version of my keynote address to the FinTech Global Expo at the San Diego Convention Center on May 29,…
Blog
Johnson-Crapo’s Reemergence Ruins Reg Relief Bill
Last year, an overhaul of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac called Johnson-Crapo—named after then Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and Ranking Member Mike…
Newsmax
‘Fiduciary Rule’ Takes Aim at Retirement Plans
Three years ago, President Barack Obama signed into law the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, modestly but significantly liberalizing securities markets for investors…
