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
The Cedar Rapids Gazette
Here’s how Iowa is involved in stopping controversial ‘debanking’
Many Americans have recently been exposed to the troubling reality that their government may be encouraging banks to withdraw financial services from people or firms…
Blog
CFPB Unfairly Targets Zelle
As part of a last-gasp effort by the Biden administration to punish legal businesses it disapproves of, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has sued…
Yahoo Finance
Consumer protection agency closes the Biden era taking big swings
Yahoo Finance cited CEI’s financial expert on bad regulations “I can’t speak to the merits of every lawsuit, they’re filing them so fast,” said…
Search Posts
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)…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. TRANSPORTATION Communities in states such as Michigan, Florida, Texas and…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY The House Government Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs examines government red…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. HEALTH & SAFETY Food and Drug Administration officials are urging drug safety reviewers to…
Newsletter
The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. GLOBAL WARMING California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced a project to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in…
Products
Ponzi’s Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend
Full Document Available in PDF Many have heard…
CEI Planet
April Issue of CEI’s Monthly Planet
Full Document Available in PDF Environmentalism, RIP? Not So Fast, by Angela…
Op-Eds
Reagan’s Ghost: Liberal pundits miss the boat when talking tax reform.
In their attempt to strangle President Bush's tax-reform plan before it even reaches the cradle, liberal journalist-strategists have conjured up a strange political…
Op-Eds
A Tremendously Costly Law
Early this year, an unusual full-page ad appeared in the Wall Street Journal and other financial newspapers. The ad attempted to refute claims from businessmen…
CEI Planet
February/ March Issue of CEI’s Monthly Planet
Full Document Available in PDF Featured in the February/March Issue of the…
News Release
Bush Budget Missteps On Energy, Environment, Regulatory Reform
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Contact for Interviews: Christine Hall, 202.331.2258, or Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273…
News Release
CEI Scholars Respond to Bush Budget
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> OVERVIEW Analysis from CEI Vice President for Policy Clyde…
News Release
Free Market Reaction to the State of the Union
Contact: Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273 Washington, D.C., February 2, 2005—President Bush’s State of the Union address tonight will expound his vision of an “Ownership Society,” in…
News Release
Study: Consumers Could be Hurt by Federal Regulation of Insurance Industry
Contact for interviews: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273 <?xml:namespace prefix = st1…
Chron
The Mother of all Financial Scandals
Chron
Accounting Rules Still Should Adopt to New Economy
Op-Eds
It’s About Economic Growth, Stupid!: Kemp Nationally Syndicated Column
Kemp Column Distributed by Copley News Service Kemp Column Distributed by Copley News Service President George W.
News Release
Statement from CEI President Fred Smith Regarding New CBO Report on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Washington, DC, May 23, 2001 – The latest figures from the Congressional Budget Office indicating that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac receive more than $10…
Op-Eds
Don’t Give Up the SS Bully Pulpit: Kemp Nationally Syndicated Column
Distributed by Copley News Service Distributed by Copley News Service March 12, 2001 President Bush's approach to tax cutting…
Comment
Why the War on Money Laundering Should be Aborted
Dr. Richard W. Rahn, Chairman of Novecon Financial, was one of the contributors to The Future of Financial Privacy: Private Choices versus Political Rules (2000). He…
Chron
Kickoff for Economic Growth
Washington, D.C., is a funny place. It’s probably the only place on Earth where a majority of people turn to the editorial page of the newspaper before they…
Chron
Bush Announces Nominees to Tackle the Tough Issues
Citation
Tax Reform Advocates Say Call Flat Tax a Green Tax
Chron
Class Clash and Fabrication
Vice President Al Gore and President Clinton not only took sole credit for today’s splendid economy in their speeches last week at the Democratic National Convention,…
Chron
The Hidden Burden
Chron
Stock Market Roulette or Fiscal Snobbery?
One of the great debates of our time is whether it is possible for America to become a shareholder democracy, in which all workers can own assets and…
News Release
Shadow Insurance Regulation Committee Statement on Regulatory Restructuring
Washington, DC, May 5, 2000 – The Shadow Insurance Regulation Committee concludes that the two main objectives of any restructuring of insurance regulation…
Chron
Government Wants Control of MS
News Release
Shadow Insurance Regulation Committee issues statements on Commercial Insurance Deregulation, Workers’ Comp, and Electronic Comm
Washington, DC, April 19, 1999 – The Shadow Insurance Regulation Committee issued three statements of consensus today, concerning commercial insurance deregulation, workers’ compensation…
Op-Eds
One-Track Mind
Molly Munger graduated from Harvard Law School in 1974, a member of the school’s first class that was more than 10 percent female. She was…
Study
Federal Reinsurance for Homeowner’s Insurance: Another Capitol Hill Disaster.
Storm clouds over Capitol Hill. House Banking Committee members are teetering on the brink of triggering a mega-disaster this week that is pointed…
News Release
Shadow Insurance Committee to Meet October 25 to Review Catastrophe Insurance Financing & Redlining Issues
Washington, D.C., October 22, 1999 – The Shadow Insurance Regulation Committee will hold its second meeting of the year at 12 noon on October…
Chron
Reinsurance Proposal Troubling
As Floyd moves up the coastline, it appears that most property owners have dodged the burden of potentially devastating losses that could stress private-insurance markets:…
Op-Eds
New Pricing Plans Are Good
This isn’t your father’s telecommunications market. Long-distance pricing was once onesize-fits-all, with high, distance-sensitive rates cast in stone by regulators. Now that is changing, as…
Chron
Superstores Helpful (Letter to the Editor)
The article ” ‘Good simplicity’ falls by the wayside” by reporter Craig Wilson asserts that “shopping at the mall or Wal-Mart or a fast food…
Op-Eds
Suburban Development Made Scapegoat for Urban Woes (Letter to the Editor)
The national debate about suburban development spawns many misunderstandings about the real issues. The recent USA TODAY editorial and response by Vice President Al Gore…
Chron
Suit Will Hurt Competition
Increasingly, Americans are losing faith in their government. The U.S. Department of Justice’s action against American Airlines on Thursday underscores why. The lawsuit seeks to…
Orange County Register
Garages: Good for Business
Op-Eds
Unlivable Communities
Vice President Al Gore recently announced a new “livable com munities agenda,” designed to “ensure a high quality of life” by controlling so-called “urban sprawl.” But…
Orange County Register
Predatory Pricing Miscues
Op-Eds
How to Get Real Social Security: Tom Miller Article in Reader’s Digest
“Am I ever going to see that money again Published in Reader’s Digest December 1998 “Am I ever going to see…
Orange County Register
Customers Granted Microsoft its 90 Percent Market Share
Study
Insuring Against Natural Disasters: Possibilities for Market-Based Reform
Full Document Available in PDF In the 105th Congress, the…
Products
Rethinking Insurance Regulation–1998
NATURAL DISASTERS AND CATASTROPHIC…
Study
A Disaster Waiting to Happen: Why Washington Shouldn’t Subsidize Disaster Insurance
This Thursday, April 23, the House Banking and Financial Services Committee will examine H.R. 219, the Homeowners Insurance Availability Act sponsored by Rep. Rick…
Study
Michigan’s Insurance Industry: New Directions
Full Document Available in PDF With the coming of the administration of Republican…
Products
Flirting With Disaster
Congress is again exploring new ways to undermine the private market for homeowners insurance in disaster-prone parts of the country. On February…
Study
Risk-Based Homeowners Insurance Under Siege: The Slippery Slope From Redlining Charges To Disparate Impact Claims
Full Document Available in…
Products
Abusing Discrimination
In America at century’s end, the surest way to obtain special treatment for a social group is to assert that its members suffer…
Products
Disparate Impact Dangers
On March 10 one of the nation's largest property and casualty insurers, Nationwide Insurance Company, agreed to part with $13.2 million to settle allegations…
Products
NAIC Insures Privileged Access
Thousands of insurance executives and regulators converged on Orlando, Fla., in March to attend the spring meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners…
Products
New Choices in Auto Insurance
The high cost of auto insurance is a serious concern for many people across the country. Annual premiums can run into thousands of dollars.
Study
Rethinking Insurance Regulation
View Full Document as PDF Dr. Joseph Olson delivered a keynote address at the Mayflower Hotel for a conference sponsored by the…
Study
The Business and Regulation of Insurance: A Primer
Full Document Available in PDF…
Study
A Primer on Derivatives
Full Version Available in PDF Although criticized often and considered unfathomably complex, "derivatives" are relatively straightforward financial contracts that are not inherently…
Study
The World Bank’s Trail of Sorrows
View Document as PDF As congress looks for ways to reduce the federal budget, it should start by cutting htose programs with…
Study
The World Bank’s Trail of Sorrows
Study
The Anti-Redlining Agenda: An Assault on Risk-based Insurance
Executive Summary The House of Representatives is considering two competing bills aimed at addressing recent charges of insurance industry redlining (the refusal to…
Orange County Register
How the IMF Could Become a Real S&P for International Debt
Should the U.S, donate an added $8.4 billion- to the International Monetary Fund? IMF opponents, of course, answer “No,” They claim that increased- IMF funding…
