Better Markets

FDIC’s Actions Blindfold Bank Supervisors, Giving Jeffrey Epstein and Other Lawbreakers Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Cards | Better Markets WASHINGTON, D.C.— Dennis Kelleher, President, CEO, and Co-founder of Better Markets, issued the following statement in response to the FDIC Board’s actions today related to reputation risk and supervi...

Today, the FDIC proposed rules that could blindfold bank supervisors and prevent them from flagging reputation risks or early signs of misconduct. This opens banks' doors to dangerous actors and poor management. Read our statement: bettermarkets.org/newsroom/fdi...

The Supreme Court’s Impact on the Economy and Main Street Americans’ Financial Lives | Better Markets Below is the Introduction to the report. Read the full report here. Introduction Anyone who has a savings or checking account, credit card, debit card, mortgage, student loan, car loan, retirement pla...

Our report reviews important cases decided last term that impact critical economic and financial issues facing all Americans, and previews more cases we're watching closely this year. bettermarkets.org/analysis/the...

The U.S. Supreme Court kicked off a new term today. Every American with a bank account, credit card, mortgage loan, or any other financial product or service is impacted by—and has to care about—the Supreme Court’s decisions.

US banks expect victory in capital requirements as Trump regulators revamp rules As President Donald Trump's regulators revamp bank rules, big lenders expect their capital requirements could fall, in a stunning victory for the industry which faced a big hike under former President Joe Biden, according to senior industry executives.

Thanks to @reuters.com for including our analysis: www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

Wall Street Banks Are Trying to Return to Dangerously Low 2007 Capital Levels, Again Endangering Main Street Jobs and Homes | Better Markets Let’s be clear about what is happening with capital at the largest U.S. banks: those banks and their army of lobbyists – and allies in the Trump administration and at the banking regulatory agencies –...

Wall Street banks are trying to return to the dangerously low levels of capital that they had in 2007, right before the financial crash. Read our fact sheet: bettermarkets.org/analysis/wal...

The SEC Must Not Kill The CAT | Better Markets Introduction On May 6, 2010, nearly $1 trillion of stock market value was temporarily lost.[1] Some stocks inexplicably plummeted to $1 per share while others skyrocketed to more than $100,000 per sha...

13 years ago today, the SEC's rule requiring a consolidated audit trail (CAT) took effect. The CAT makes our securities markets safer and is an important tool for investor protection. But now, the SEC and its industry allies are trying to kill the CAT. bettermarkets.org/analysis/the...

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Better Markets Month in Review Newsletter – September 2025 | Better Markets Below is the opening of our monthly newsletter. View the full newsletter online here. Hi friend, If one thing is clearer than ever, it’s that America needs a strong and stable financial system that su...

Our September newsletter covers our State of Economic and Financial Policymaking conference earlier this month, as well as our work on community banks, private market assets, the important role state regulators play in consumer protection, and more. bettermarkets.org/newsroom/bet...

The Supreme Court’s Impact on the Economy and Main Street Americans’ Financial Lives | Better Markets Below is the Introduction to the report. Read the full report here. Introduction Anyone who has a savings or checking account, credit card, debit card, mortgage, student loan, car loan, retirement pla...

In a new report, we explain how every American with a bank account, credit card or mortgage loan is impacted by the Supreme Court’s decisions. The Court must use its power to level the playing field between large corporations and Main Street Americans. bettermarkets.org/analysis/the...

Why Corporate America Is Caving to Trump

“It’s astonishing how spineless the masters of the universe and big bad billionaires really are. If they’re going to cravenly capitulate over the independence of the Fed, it’s pretty clear they will not stand up for anything.” -@denniskelleher.bsky.social @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/b...

Groundhog Day There is a tragic throughline running through this long-running script: financial industry leaders blow past legal guardrails, citing that their technological innovations cannot possibly be cabined in by outmoded rules created by a previous generation. Regulatory and law enforcement officials are under-resourced and out-gunned even at times when they have the best intentions for fulfilling the public interest. Other times, these officials are captured by the very industries they're tasked to police. In either case, industries are too often able to establish economic power through their noncompliance with existing law and translate it into political power to rewrite the rules to bless their business models. This noncompliance in the face of clear existing legal precedent creates the very "uncertainty" that the industry points to as a justification to change the law. And the final rhetorical move is to invoke international competitiveness, hoping to scare lawmakers into believing that a failure to bend the law to an industry's favor will harm U.S. industries, jobs and growth. Crypto has memorized this script and is reading their lines in an Oscar-worthy performance to many policymakers. Congressional hearings bemoan the "legal uncertainty" caused by applying longstanding laws to arrangements that look a lot like pre-existing investment schemes but are digital or blockchain-based. Crypto industry petitions to federal agencies say that Great Depression-era laws "[prevent] market participants from leveraging the efficiencies new technology can offer."

Important explanation by @bettermarkets.bsky.social of how the crypto industry is reusing the same bogus “technological advancement” hype that Citigroup circa 1999 to gut key financial market protections.

Past is prologue. We should heed its lessons: bettermarkets.org/wp-content/u...

Strengthening Community Banks Creates an Economy That Works for All Americans | Better Markets Below is the introduction of the report. Read the full report here. INTRODUCTION: Community Banks’ Indispensable Role Community banks are vital to Main Street Americans, enabling many to achieve their...

Despite the critical role community banks play in supporting our local economies, they face an unlevel playing field. Existing policies benefit the largest banks, leaving community banks to struggle. In a new report, we suggest policy changes to remedy this. bettermarkets.org/analysis/str...

CFPB’s Proposal is an Auto Lender Giveaway: New Framework Would Have Robbed 1.36 Million Customers, including 50,000 Servicemembers, from $75 Million in Restitution and Penalties | Better Markets WASHINGTON, D.C.— Amanda Fischer, Policy Director and COO of Better Markets, issued the following statement in connection with today’s filing of a comment letter to the Consumer Financial Protection B...

The CFPB’s proposal to exempt subprime auto lenders from the possibility of Bureau supervision should be rejected. It would have robbed 1.36 million customers, including 50,000 service members, from $75 million in restitution and penalties. bettermarkets.org/newsroom/cfp...

Jared Bernstein, Former Chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, is closing out the State of Economic and Financial Policymaking Conference with a keynote address.

.jennifertaub.com, BMAAB Co-Chair & Prof. of Law, Wayne State University joins Anat Admati, Prof. of Finance and Economics, Stanford GSB; Hilary Allen, Prof., American University College of Law; and Patricia McCoy, Professor of Law, BC Law School to discuss financial "innovation & distortion."

.@simonhrjohnson.bsky.social, Co-Chair, Better Markets Academic Advisory Board & MIT Prof. of Global Economics & Management discusses financial stability w/ Art Wilmarth, GW Prof Emeritus of Law & Gerald Epstein, UMass-Amherst Prof. of Economics & Founding Co-Dir., Political Economy Research Inst.

"The shape of the financial system has shifted from where it was in the Great Financial Crisis, from a bank-centric hub-and-spoke system with the banks in the middle and everyone else around the periphery to more of a web, with private credit more central in that web." - @markzandi.bsky.social

Antonio Weiss, Former Counselor to the Secretary of the United States Treasury and Partner, SSW Partners LP offers joint keynote on private credit and systemic risk with @markzandi.bsky.social, Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics. Watch now: tinyurl.com/BMAAB2025

Better Markets COO and Policy Director @amandalfischer celebrates the impactful work of scholars within the Better Markets academic network, including Academic Advisory Board Co-Chair @baselinescene, awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics. tinyurl.com/BMAABAbout

State of Economic & Financial Policymaking Conference | Better Markets CONFERENCE INFORMATION JUMP TO RELEVANT MATERIALS AGENDA 9:00 AM | WELCOME & INTRODUCTION DENNIS KELLEHER Co-Founder, President and CEO, Better Markets BIO KATHRYN JUDGE Co-Chair, Better Markets…

The Better Markets Academic Advisory Board is using informed scholarship to building vital bridges between academia and the public sphere. Learn more here: tinyurl.com/BMAAB2025

Kate Judge, Co-Chair, Better Markets Academic Advisory Board & Columbia Law Prof. joins @jeremykress.bsky.social, Assoc. Professor U-M Business and Co-Faculty Dir. U-M Ctr on Finance, Law & Policy; @skandaamarnath.bsky.social, Exec. Dir. @employamerica.bsky.social to discuss what's next for the Fed.

Thomas Ferguson, Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts Boston, offers a research update on "Crypto's Political Economy." Follow along here: t.co/rz5QC1yzZC

Today's State of Economic & Financial Policymaking Conference is underway with a keynote address from SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw. Tune in now! tinyurl.com/msukfkd4

The SEC Must Make Markets Work for Investors | Better Markets Introduction On September 18, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will host a roundtable to discuss its “Trade-through Rule.”[1] The rule restricts the execution of trades on one venue at pri...

This rule has contributed to the rise of high-frequency traders which now dominate the markets and harm investors. Read more in our fact sheet: bettermarkets.org/analysis/the...

The SEC is hosting a roundtable today on its 'Trade-through rule,' which prohibits the execution of trades on one exchange at prices inferior to prices at another exchange. www.sec.gov/newsroom/mee...

SEC Allowing Corporations to Force Harmed Investors into Biased Arbitration Star Chambers Is Wrong | Better Markets WASHINGTON, D.C.—Benjamin Schiffrin, Director of Securities Policy for Better Markets, issued the following statement in connection with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issuing a policy s...

The SEC continues to fail at its mission to protect investors by giving corporate America one if its top priorities: mandatory arbitration. This will force investors into a biased, unfair forum to keep them from going to court with their grievances. bettermarkets.org/newsroom/sec...

This week! Join us on Friday, September 19 for the State of Economic & Financial Policymaking Conference, hosted by our Academic Advisory Board—bold ideas, expert panels. bettermarkets.org/analysis/bet...

Trump Packing the Federal Reserve with Cronies Is Playing Politics with the Pocketbooks of All Hardworking Americans | Better Markets WASHINGTON, D.C.— Dennis M. Kelleher, Co-founder, President, and CEO, issued the following statement regarding the anticipated confirmation of Trump’s loyal employee Stephen Miran to the Federal…

ICYMI: "A Trump controlled Fed will make short term political decisions to benefit Trump, not the 10s of millions of hardworking Americans who depend on the Fed to make data-driven decisions to keep prices under control while maximizing employment." -@denniskelleher.bsky.social tinyurl.com/y9d9tjtm

Trump Packing the Federal Reserve with Cronies Is Playing Politics with the Pocketbooks of All Hardworking Americans | Better Markets WASHINGTON, D.C.— Dennis M. Kelleher, Co-founder, President, and CEO, issued the following statement regarding the anticipated confirmation of Trump’s loyal employee Stephen Miran to the Federal…

"The Senate’s confirmation today of Trump’s unqualified White House employee, Stephen Miran, to a short-term position on the Fed while he keeps his White House job is shameful and an inexcusable dereliction of its constitutional duty..." - @denniskelleher.bsky.social tinyurl.com/y9d9tjtm Read more.

One week away: the State of Economic & Financial Policymaking Conference. Hear panels and keynotes with bold ideas, expert insights, and collaborative dialogue on the future of economic and financial policymaking. Register here: bettermarkets.org/analysis/bet...