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
News Release
Supreme Court Disappoints on Funding/Powers Question in Ruling in CFPB Case
The Supreme Court today issued a disappointing ruling in CFPB v. Community Financial Services Association of America, a lawsuit challenging the unchecked funding of…
News Release
No surprises with April’s inflation report: CEI analysis
Inflation rose 0.3 percent in April compared to 0.4 percent in March. While this wasn’t a surprise for economists, the news indicates a tough…
Blog
Navigating the maze of federal regulations in 2024: What to know
In a bureaucratic whirlwind, the 2024 Federal Register is attaining new heights, topping 41,000 pages today. An unsettling new norm for the past few weeks…
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Newsletter
CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. ENERGY & AGRICULTURE The “UN warns of unrest as food price inflation hits developing countries,” pointing the finger…
Blog
Sen. Johnson is Back
Senator Tim Johnson, returned to work yesterday. His return means that the debate over Optional Federal Chartering of insurance will heat up (link…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. TECHNOLOGY State attorneys general pressure MySpace, Facebook and other social networking websites to implement stricter…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. ECONOMICS Officials and residents debate whether the federal government should subsidize rebuilding efforts in hurricane-prone…
Blog
What Gives in South Carolina?
I’m writing this from the new library in downtown Columbia, South Carolina. It’s a big, open all glass building that I wouldn’t want to be…
Op-Eds
Bankrupting Florida
If a catastrophic Katrina-like hurricane sweeps through the state of Florida, it may leave behind more than wrecked houses, damaged shops, and ruined roads:…
Newsletter
CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. TECHNOLOGY Microsoft presses the Federal Communications Commission to make broadcast spectrum available for wireless service.
Op-Eds
Barriers to more effective US disaster insurance
Sir, You are right about the need for much greater purchase of disaster insurance but, perhaps, say verylittle about how difficult it might be…
News Release
Sarbanes-Oxley Fifth Anniversary Marked by Problems
Washington, D.C., July 30, 2007—Tuesday, July 31st is the fifth anniversary of President Bush’s signing of the Sarbanes-Oxley bill aimed at protecting investors from…
Blog
Should Disaster Insurance Be Compulsory?
A masthead editorial (full text by subscription only) lays out a compelling case for mandatory purchase of catastrophe insurance. I’ve long supported something close…
Newsletter
CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. CONGRESS Lawmakers prepare to vote on a major new farm bill. CEI Expert Available to…
Newsletter
CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. CONGRESS Lawmakers prepare to vote on a major new farm bill. CEI Expert Available to…
News Release
New Insurance Bill Helps Insurers and Consumers
NOTE: Due to the speed at which this press release was written, not all parties quoted reviewed it before it was sent. All quotations,…
Newsletter
CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. LEGAL The city of Washington, D.C. asks the Supreme Court to review a recent federal court verdict…
Op-Eds
Short on Storm Coverage
So long as hurricanes continue to sweep through Florida's landscape, Floridians will have to find ways to repair the damage. As the Sentinel…
Newsletter
CEI Daily Update
1. CONGRESS House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Chairman John Dingell prepare for a showdown on energy policy. CEI Expert Available to…
Blog
Mandatory Purchase
In a piece in Saturday's Washington Examiner, I examine the parallels between auto insurance and health insurance, and, for the most part, find that…
Op-Eds
The Road to Health Care Reform
When they buy automobile insurance, Americans enjoy a market that provides many choices, lots of competition, and, in most places, reasonable rates. Residents of…
Newsletter
CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. Health Michael Moore’s controversial documentary on health care in America, Sicko, opens nationwide.
News Release
National Opening of “Sicko” Has Pro-Freedom Activists Crying Foul
Washington, DC, June 29, 2007—With Michael Moore’s documentary indictment of the U.S. health care system, Sicko, opening at theaters nationally this weekend, members of…
Op-Eds
Charleston’s Uncommon Tragedy: Fires do less damage today than ever before
Nine firefighters perished as a terrible inferno swept through <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Charleston’s Sofa Super Store this past Monday…
Blog
Long Term Outlook on Underwriting Profits
I had an op-ed yesterday’s Washington Times about the rather dismal insurance situation along the Gulf Coast. A friend e-mailed me to challenge one…
Op-Eds
Hurricane Eye on Insurers
Throughout the hurricane zone that follows <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />America's Atlantic coastline from Texas to North Carolina, a populist…
Blog
Mea Culpa (Sorta) on Credit Scoring
No sooner did I post my thoughts about the Supreme Court decision on credit scoring than I got an e-mail from an American Insurance…
News Release
Study: SOX Rules Rob Investors of Ability to Build Wealth
Contact: Christine Hall, 202.331.2258 Washington, D.C., June 7, 2007—Sarbanes-Oxley, the federal law aimed at protecting investors from corporate abuses, is actually hurting…
Study
SOXing It to the Little Guy
Remember 1982, when video games, personal computers, and cordless phones were new—and the companies that made these products were new? If investors could travel back…
Study
Will Repealing the Federal Insurance Antitrust Exemption Help Or Hurt Consumers?
Full Document Available in PDF If…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Tuesday, June 5, 2007 Issues in the News 1. MEDIAA federal appeals court strikes down Federal Communications Commission’s rules for…
Blog
SCOTUS On Insurance and Credit Reporting
A Supreme Court Decision handed down today, Safeco v. Burr, mostly sided with two insurance companies in a dispute over notifications related to the…
Blog
Banning “Discrimination” That Might Protect Safety
Politicians love to vote against “discrimination.” It makes them feel saintly, even if the law they vote for has unintended consequences, saddles businesses with red…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. CONSUMER The Washington Post reports on CEI’s campaign to protest substandard appliances resulting from energy efficiency mandates. 2.
News Release
Insurance Reform Bill Could Have Big Impact on Consumers
Washington, D.C., May 24, 2007— America has a deeply troubled auto and homeowners’ insurance system. A bill to be introduced today in Congress may…
Blog
Selling Insurance on the Web
Today’s Wall Street Journal (subscription only) features an article about the increasing use of the Web for the sale of insurance policies. I was…
Blog
Wildfires in California: A Growing Residual Market?
We may be seeing the emergence of yet another residual market for insurance, this time against wildfire. Even though fires have declined a great…
Blog
Property Insurance Becomes a Legislative Casualty
The Florida legislature recently passed a bill regulating property insurance rates in response to complaints that premiums in certain hurricane-prone areas were too high.
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. ENVIRONMENT The Washington Post celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of environmentalist icon…
Comment
Comments Submitted to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners on the Proposed Model Audit Rule
Full Document Available in…
Blog
Charlie Crist: Populist
Florida continues its populist jihad against private insurance companies. On top of last year’s legislation letting the state-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp. compete outright for…
Blog
The Collapse of Private Insurance: Part XXVII
A federal jury verdict yesterday in Lousiana requiring Allstate to pay several million dollars it didn’t expect to further underlines the inherent problem with…
News Release
Insurance Reform Bill Could Have Big Impact On Consumers
Contact: Christine Hall, 202.331.2258 Washington, D.C., April 10, 2007— America has a deeply troubled auto and homeowners’ insurance system, but a forthcoming bill…
Blog
The Tip of the Iceberg
I have a piece in today’s National Review Online about the new bill that would provide optional federal chartering (OFC) for insurance companies. OFC,…
Blog
Is Bad Regulatory Competition Better than No Regulatory Competition?
I had an interesting conversation about regulatory competition in the context of insurance. A lawyer I was speaking with argued that any regulatory competition structure—even…
Blog
So Where do the Shipping Disasters Take Place?
They take place at home. Let me explain. In studies of regulatory policy, the international flags-of-convenience system for shipping often gets cited as an example…
Blog
An interesting idea for insurance choice
In the next few weeks, I'm going to be writing a good deal about the idea that insurance companies should have the ability to do…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. HEALTH President Bush visits wounded veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. INSURANCE A major insurer announced this week it will offer a homeowners’ insurance product for customers living in…
Blog
Thoughts about McCarran-Ferguson
Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott, angry with the whole insurance industry over the situation in his home state of Mississippi, has announced that he…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. CONGRESS The Senate refuses to allow the Capitol grounds to be used…
Op-Eds
Caring for Vets: A Healthy Plan
If it wants to fix the appalling mess that medical care has become at Washington D.C.’s Walter Reed hospital, the Department of the Army might…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. HEALTH The Food and Drug Administration announces a plan to speed up access to…
Citation
Democrats Loosening their SOX?
Op-Eds
Schumer’s Way
Senator Schumer is on a roll. After coasting to an easy and well funded re-election in 2004, the senior senator from New York is…
Op-Eds
The war hero vs. the bureaucrats
Pity poor Eddie Rickenbacker. His life so closely resembled the clichéd “American Dream,” that you can't blame him for buying into American mythology.
Products
Let the Internet Grow Up
America has developed a proud paternal bond with the Internet. We’ve watched and cheered the Net’s growth from its awkward, text-heavy infancy into…
Products
Accountability, Power, and Our CAP Project
Violations of the Constitution come in all shapes and sizes. Many of you may be familiar with the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), which CEI…
Products
CEI Planet: March – April 2006
Full Document Available in PDF New Era, or ‘Ancien Régime,’…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. LEGAL State attorneys general ask the Supreme Court to step into a dispute over the states’ 1998…
Letters
70% of Americans Say They Don’t Want the Government to Prepare Taxes for Them
Full Document Available in PDF Reps. Melissa Hart and Anna Eshoo have introduced H.R. 5114, the Tax Return Choice Act of 2006,…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. CONGRESS The Senate Finance Committee investigates tax documents from major oil companies. CEI Expert Available to…
Op-Eds
Ex-Im: Boeing’s Bank Once More
The Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im), a federal agency that subsidizes U.S. exports primarily through loan guarantees, dedicated a majority of its guarantee dollars again…
News Release
States Blow Tobacco Funds on Budget Smorgasbord
Contact: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Christine Hall, 202.331.2258 Jody Clarke, 202.331.2252 …
Study
Antitrust Skeptic’s Bibliography
For more than two decades, the willingness of policy makers to rethink the presumption that economic regulation automatically benefits consumers has driven the deregulation of…
Op-Eds
Congress’ Silk Purse
During the Capitol Hill budget debates, many spectators must have found the use of the term “earmarking” somewhat strange. What does it have…
Products
CEI Planet: January – February 2006
President Concedes Moral High Ground on Energy by Myron Ebell "America is addicted to oil." With these five words in…
Op-Eds
Careful What You Wish For
If you wanted to lower electric energy prices in the US, what would you do? If you answered, “Cripple the domestic railroad industry,” you'd…
Products
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
On February 9, the Competitive Enterprise Institute helped file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), a federal agency…
Op-Eds
Speaking in Tongues
In Monty Python’s classic "Hungarian Phrasebook" sketch, a Hungarian tourist walks into a British tobacconist’s shop, and, consulting a faulty phrasebook, tells…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. ENERGY Executives from major oil companies testify before Congress on industry profits. CEI Expert Available…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. FINANCE The Securities and Exchange Commission may ease corporate accounting regulations on small public…
Op-Eds
Sarbanes-Oxley Accounting Board: An Agency Without Accountability
In 2001, the energy giant Enron unexpectedly filed for bankruptcy, laying off 4,000 of its employees and consuming the life savings of thousands more. In…
News Release
CEI Praises Nancy Pelosi, Others For Recognizing Sarbanes-Oxley’s Burden
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Washington, D.C., March 8, 2005—The Competitive Enterprise Institute applauds the House Democrats’ Innovation Agenda…
Op-Eds
The Ideas Marketplace — Sans Market?
WASHINGTON—The Jack Abramoff scandal has many individual players, but it’s also added fuel to an older and broader theme—the quest to purge politics of money.
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. BUSINESS Civil rights leader Andrew Young joins the steering committee of the group Working Families for…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. HEALTH The EPA tells people not to throw out their Teflon cookware CEI Expert Available to…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. HURRICANE KATRINA The House of Representatives finds failures in the response to Hurricane Katrina at all levels…
Op-Eds
The top ten reasons to cut corporate welfare
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />The federal budget is too big. It's way too big. George W. Bush has called for total…
News Release
Free Enterprise Fund and Competitive Enterprise Institute to Announce Constitutional Legal Challenge to Sarbanes-Oxley
WHAT: Sarbanes-Oxley was rushed into law in 2002 with good intentions following unprecedented corporate scandals. Yet, elements of Sarbanes-Oxley now serve as classic examples…
News Release
Free Enterprise Fund and Competitive Enterprise Institute Launch Constitutional Legal Challenge to Sarbanes-Oxley Act
CONTACT: Christine Hall, 202-331-2258, [email protected] Washington, DC (February 8, 2006)—The Free Enterprise Fund and the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) on Tuesday launched a…
Op-Eds
Pot Calling Kettle Black?
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> In senior editor Dave Astor's article on syndicated columnists and their sources of…
Op-Eds
Open Federalism
The businessman puts the cash in an envelope. He leaves it on the agreed upon restaurant table. Another man, a government bureaucrat, walks over…
Op-Eds
Sarbanes-Oxley vs. the Free Press
Back in June, when New York Times reporter Judith Miller was about to go to jail on contempt charges for refusing to testify…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. ECONOMICS Offical plans for rebuilding New Orleans draw harsh criticism from local homeowners. CEI Expert Available…
Op-Eds
Caveat Emptor: No, Really
One of the oldest maxims in commerce is caveat emptor: let the buyer beware. Sadly, this is often interpreted as a condemnation of businessmen, a…
Op-Eds
Who Is Watching the Watchdog?
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Today in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, outspoken hedge fund manager…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. AUTOMOTIVE Ford Motor Co. CEO Bill Ford announces his company’s plans to focus on developing alternative…
Op-Eds
Is U.S. Embracing a Global Tax Scheme?
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Melbourne, Australia—This week, a good number of liberal activists—when not engaged in trying to stop the…
Op-Eds
Puts and Calls: Sarbanes-Oxley ‘reform’ harming economy
The Sarbanes-Oxley corporate governance act is one of the biggest expansions of government regulation in 70 years—and businesses say it’s more costly and complicated than…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. INTERNET Time Warner and AOL announce a new venture to…
Op-Eds
Congress Tweaks Patriot Act Provisions, Will Affect the Tech Industry
Congress is in the process of tweaking sixteen separate sections of the USA Patriot Act that were scheduled to sunset at the end of this…
Products
CEI Planet: September – October 2005
Full Document Available in PDF No Regulation Without Representation…
News Release
New Warren T. Brookes Journalism Fellow to Join CEI
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Washington, D.C., October 12, 2005— The Competitive Enterprise Institute is pleased to announce…
Letters
The President’s Tax Panel Should Dump “Static” Revenue-Estimating
A coalition of more than 40 free-market leaders, including The Competitive Enterprise Institute, has asked President Bush to direct the Advisory Panel on Federal…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. HURRICANE KATRINA President Bush addresses the nation from New Orleans, pledging additional assistance to areas…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. FINANCE Hurricane Katrina threatens to cost insurers billion of dollars in losses. CEI Expert Available…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. LEGAL & CONSTITUTIONAL Democrats and Republicans alike eye the nomination of Judge John Roberts…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. FINANCE Rep. Michael Oxley, co-sponsor of the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate accounting law, expresses concerns about its impact.
News Release
SEC Cox Hearings Highlight Sarbanes-Oxley Burdens
Contact for Interviews: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273 Christine Hall, 202.331.2258…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. ENERGY House and Senate conference committee members reach agreement on major energy legislation.
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. FINANCE The Securities and Exchange Commission gets taken to task by a federal appeals…
Op-Eds
The Uses and Abuses of Finite Risk Reinsurance
Finite risk has become what derivatives were ten years ago—a hot button for controversy and the likely subject of investigations, litigation, and (heaven forbid)…
