Fed Encounters Tough New Complaints re Governance, Security
Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) today released a report from the Republican Members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee not only alleging repeated Chinese attempts to infiltrate the Federal Reserve, but also Fed laxity ahead of and in response to this threat.
SEC Official Seems to Doubt Swing Pricing
In remarks today, the head of the SEC’s investment management division, William Birdthistle, seems to cast doubt on the agency’s MMF swing-pricing proposal (see FSM Report MMF19). As we noted in our assessment of the FSB’s MMF report (see FSM Report MMF18), one alternative to MMFs would be bank deposits, but Mr. Birdthistle indicates that this is both unlikely and undesirable due to the lower rates paid on bank deposits.
Brown, Sanders, Dems Introduce Bill to Extend Full Range of Civil Rights Protections to Financial Services
Today, Sen. Brown (D-OH) and seventeen Senators introduced legislation that explicitly prohibits financial institutions from discriminating against customers based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation. No text of the bill is available, but the release today suggests it is similar to or identical to legislation Sen. Brown introduced late in the last Congress (see FSM Report FAIRLEND9) revising the Civil Rights Act to expressly cover financial services.