Banking CEOs Fail to Ease Concerns Over the Return of Risky, Pre-Financial Crisis Practices
The Big Banks say everything is fine. The ever-mounting scandals say otherwise.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, executives representing seven major banks humbly assured members of House Financial Services Committee that they’ve cleaned up their act since the financial crisis that derailed the economy a decade ago. Those assurances run counter to the rash of banking scandals just in the last two years and the $243 billion in fines the industry has racked up for bad behavior since the financial crisis – systemic problems that the Trump administration has been highly reluctant to crack down on. That is why consumer advocacy group Allied Progress launched a new digital ad ‘Not Just Wells Fargo’ and new website www.BigBankFacts.org today underscoring why the industry needs more accountability from Congress, not the free pass it’s been enjoying from President Trump.
“A common refrain we heard today was that banks have “embraced” the reforms that came out of financial crisis despite the millions of dollars the industry has spent trying to dismantle Dodd-Frank since its inception. The disingenuous nods at reform were a transparent effort to convince Congress that no additional regulation or oversight is necessary when it’s painfully clear that that’s not the case,”said Jeremy Funk, spokesman for Allied Progress.
Highlights From Today’s HFSC Hearing:
- Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez runs down a damning laundry list of big banks’ bad behavior since the financial crisis. [VIDEO]
- Congresswoman Madeleine Dean grills Bank of America CEO over repeated lawsuits the bank has faced for making it very difficult for customers to save their homes from foreclosure. [VIDEO]
- Congressman Brad Sherman asked CEOs if any support re-ordering overdraft fees to save customers money. Less than half the hands went up. [VIDEO]
- Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez called out Citigroup for having the “dubious distinction” of largest discrepancy between CEO pay & median employee salary among the big banks. Corbat’s response? Everyone has a chance at his job! [VIDEO]
- Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney asked JPMorganCEO Jamie Dimon whether he’d support a bill banning abusive overdraft fees since his bank and other haven’t done so voluntarily. Dimon dithered until he was saved by the bell. [VIDEO]
- Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley blasts abusive overdraft fees that punish the poor. [VIDEO]
- Chairwoman Maxine Waters asked the CEOs of the major banks if they’ve reduced their size, and if it’s made management better. Nearly all said “yes.” [VIDEO]
- JPMorganCEO Jamie Dimon couldn’t tell Congresswoman Katie Porter how one of his entry level employees can make ends meet on his bank’s starting wage. [VIDEO]
- Majority of CEOs agreed student lending is one of the biggest systemic risks to our financial system. [VIDEO]
- Congressman Denny Heck raises CFPB’s refusal to use its authority under the Military Lending Act to conduct examinations of companies lending to our servicemembers. When asked, none of the CEOs indicate they asked for that or have any objections to these exams. [VIDEO]
- Congresswoman Wexton confirms: Even the big bank CEOs think Stephen Moore’s ideas — i.e. the gold standard — are too extreme for the Fed. [VIDEO]
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