Congressman Barney Frank today praised the announcement by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that it has taken an enforcement action against three subsidiaries of American Express.  The companies will refund 250,000 customers a total of approximately $85 million dollars and will pay an additional $27.5 million in civil penalties.  The enforcement action was taken jointly… Read more »

February 9, 2011:  Holly Petraeus before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs   March 16, 2011: Elizabeth Warren before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit   April 12, 2011: Holly Petraeus before the Senate Homeland Security and  Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank today released the following statement in response to the announcement by the Federal Reserve that it would take further action to aid economic recovery. It is welcome and entirely appropriate that the Federal Reserve acted today to take aggressive additional steps to support economic recovery.  Unemployment is still much too high and, as the Open Market… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank today released the following statement about FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco’s decision not to allow principal reductions on mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: The refusal by Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Administrator Edward DeMarco to include the use of principal reduction to help deal with the housing problem that continues to… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank spoke out yesterday against an amendment introduced by Representative Bill Posey, calling it “A tax evader’s bill of rights”, which if enacted and signed into law would seriously undermine U.S. efforts to crack down on offshore tax evasion. The Posey Amendment would prevent the Treasury Department from requiring US banks to report the interest… Read more »

Rep. Frank's opening statement at FSC Hearing entitled “The Annual Report of the Financial Stability Oversight Council”  Click here for a PDF transcript of his opening statement.   CONGRESSMAN BARNEY FRANK OPENING STATEMENT HEARING OF THE HOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE: “THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE FINANCIAL STABILITY OVERSIGHT COUNCIL” WITNESS:… Read more »

  CONGRESSMAN BARNEY FRANK SPEECH ON THE FLOOR OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DURING DEBATE ON THE FEDERAL RESERVE TRANSPARENCY ACT JULY 24, 2012 THE SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE: The gentleman from Massachusetts is recognized for four minutes. FRANK, B. (D-MA): Thank you, Mr. Speaker.  I think this is a bad idea and I’m somewhat confused. By the way, we will be debating… Read more »

Opening statement at the Hearing of the House Financial Services Committee, “Who’s in Your Wallet?  Dodd-Frank’s Impact on Families, Communities and Small Businesses”   By Congressman Barney Frank June 19, 2012 As delivered Thank you Mr. Chairman. I am struck by what seems to me to be a nice irony in the title, “Who’s in your wallet?”… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, today released the following statement about the settlement announced on July 13th in which Visa, Mastercard and some large banks agreed to pay retailers $6 billion to resolve a lawsuit concerning the amount retailers pay to accept credit cards. I welcome the proposed settlement.  I believe that a… Read more »

The Department of the Treasury today released an overview of the status of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The second anniversary of the signing of the law will be this Saturday, July 21st. Click herestrongto view the Treasury press release and report.     ### Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank today released the following statement in response to the announcement by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that its commissioners have voted to approve a definition of the term “swap” for the purpose of administering the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.  This rule was jointly written with the Securities and Exchange… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank today released the following statement about the necessity of adequate funding for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).  The argument for adequate funding has been strengthened recently by the announcement of a settlement with Barclays Bank over allegations that the bank had manipulated interest rates, and by the revelation that losses at JPMorgan… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank today released the following statement in response to news that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the U.S. Justice Department, and the British Financial Services Authority have reached a settlement with Barclays Bank over allegations that the bank had manipulated interest rates.  Barclays has agreed to pay more than $450 million in total, including a… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank released the following statement today clarifying a comment he made during the House Financial Services Committee hearing on the more than $3 billion trading loss by JPMorgan Chase. I said during the hearing today, in a discussion of the consolidation of agencies overseeing the banking industry, that “I am aware of no proposal that came from either side to… Read more »

Barney Brooksley Born, former chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, will be the featured speaker tomorrow at a press conference on funding for the CFTC.  In the late 1990s, Born was one of the first public officials to recognize the dangers of unregulated derivatives markets.  Her warnings were largely ignored and over the next several years the growing use of… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank is joined by leading members of Congress and former Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairwoman Brooksley Born in denouncing recent action by the House Appropriations committee to underfund the Securities and Exchange Commission and the CFTC. In his remarks, Congressman Frank emphasized that having these financial regulator "referees on the field" is… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank today provided the following statement in response to the release by the House Appropriations Committee of two spending bills which govern funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.  The Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2013 includes $1.371 billion for the SEC… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank today announced that he has introduced legislation that would prevent officers, directors and employees of financial firms from purchasing insurance to prevent them from having to pay a compensation clawback or a civil penalty when their actions harm their companies. Congressman Henry A. Waxman, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and… Read more »

WASHINGTON -- Congressman Barney Frank, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, and Congressman Sander Levin, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Ways and Means, today released a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, expressing concern over future U.S. free trade agreements if very important subject of capital controls is not addressed.  Levin and Frank are leaders in the U.S. House on trade and international economic issues.

Congressman Barney Frank, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, today released the following statement regarding the announcement yesterday by JPMorgan Chase that it will lose $2 billion due to trading on credit derivatives. This regrettable news from JPMorgan Chase obviously goes counter to the bank’s narrative blaming excessive regulation for the woes of financial… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, today released the following statement about the recent agreement to reauthorize funding of the Export-Import Bank. I appreciate the work of Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer and others in forging an agreement on this strong authorization of the Export-Import Bank through 2014. I only regret that the… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank today announced that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has agreed to permit filing of an amicus brief submitted by House Democrats concerning the ability of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission to issue rules which would limit speculation in commodities markets.  In their formal submission to the Court, Democrats state that the clear… Read more »

Democratic Members of the House Financial Services Committee today issued dissenting views to the budget reconciliation legislative recommendations which passed the committee last week on a straight party line vote. Republican Members of the committee claim that the legislation will cut the deficit by approximately $35 billion over a 10-year period.  However, independent observers… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, today released the following statement about the announcement by the Federal Reserve Board concerning implementation of the Volcker Rule. The guidance issued today by the Federal Reserve regarding the Volker Rule is an appropriate and reasoned approach to the implementation of this important… Read more »

Congressman Barney Frank, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, today released the following statement in response to reports that the shareholders of Citigroup have rejected the executive pay packages put forth by its board.   The vote by the shareholders of Citigroup to disapprove the pay package for its top executive is one more piece of evidence of the… Read more »