Financial Services

Financial Services is a key industry for the New York City economy and one of the biggest job creators in the region. As the senior New York Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, Congresswoman Maloney believes one of her chief tasks is to maintain the preeminence of New York City as the world’s financial center. Since coming to Congress, she has advocated for modernization of financial services regulation, state-of-the-art consumer protection and vigilant oversight of the safety-and-soundness of the banking sector. She is committed to defending the health of our financial institutions so that they can lead our economic recovery.

Congresswoman Maloney serves as a member of two subcommittees. She is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises and also serves on the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit.

Safety and Soundness: As a representative for the market center of the world, Congresswoman Maloney takes her responsibility of financial services regulation very seriously. She believes there is a need for the financial services sector to comply with regulation that protects the consumer and prevents market instability. At the same time, she is careful to make sure this regulation does not inadvertently burden small companies and our economy. With landmark legislation like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Congress significantly improved corporate governance. America must continue to work to restore investor confidence and strengthen its markets.

Basal Capital Standards: As a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, Congresswoman Maloney has been a key player in the Basel Accords, which set new international risk-based capital and liquidity standards for all internationally active banks and all domestic institutions. Read More

Housing Finance Reform: One of Congresswoman Maloney’s top priorities in Congress is ensuring every resident of the 12th Congressional district has housing that they can reasonably afford. She hosted a series of Housing Roundtables with residents, business leaders and City and State elected officials to discuss the current state of housing. She is fighting for New Yorkers in Congress and with federal officials to ensure housing options that work for all New Yorkers are available. Whether representing first time homebuyers, hardworking families ready to expand their home base, one income parents struggling to keep a roof over their heads, or elderly residents searching for housing with essential services for seniors, she has and will continue to advocate for affordable housing options for New Yorkers at every stage of life. Read More

Select Highlights

• Dodd-Frank Act: In 2009 President Obama called for major reforms as the U.S. desperately tried to climb from the depths of the financial crisis, and we've achieved the vast majority of his goals. Congresswoman Maloney took a leadership role on enacting financial reform legislation as a conferee to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This landmark legislation helped restore the economy and continues to protect Americans from unscrupulous behavior by improving transparency and accountability. It helped provide market stability so that more than 12 million private sector jobs could be created. The unemployment rate was cut in half, and our economy continues to grow in part because of the reforms she put in place. Read More

• Sarbanes Oxley Act: In 2002, Congress passed the Sarbanes Oxley Act, a series of corrective measures made in response to several major corporate and accounting scandals in the early 2000’s. Major scandals such as Enron shook investor confidence and required congressional response. Congresswoman Maloney supported this legislation and continues to work to strengthen our markets and protect consumers while allowing our financial system to support economic growth.

• Housing Trust Fund: In July 2014 Congresswoman Maloney, along with Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), wrote to Director Mel Watt of the Federal Housing Finance Agency urging him to fund the Housing Trust Fund and Capital Magnet Fund. In December 2014 Director Watt directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to begin setting aside and allocating funds to the Housing Trust Fund. This provided a dedicated source of revenue for the construction and preservation of affordable housing for extremely low-income families.

• Financial Institution Examination Fairness and Reform Act: Congresswoman Maloney is the lead Democrat, along with Congressman Lynn Westmoreland, of a bill addressing bank examination standards which ensures that financial institutions have an appropriate outlet for their concerns about examinations. She had heard many reports from institutions in her district that there was a disconnect between policy coming out of Washington and the conduct of examinations in the field. The bill Congresswoman Maloney introduced is designed to expose many of those concerns and attempts to close the gap between Washington and field examiners.

• Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA): In the aftermath of the 9/11 disaster, Congresswoman Maloney was a strong supporter of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, which provided a federal backstop so that terrorism insurance would continue to be available in high-risk areas such as New York City. Everyone knows that a major terrorist attack would be devastating not only for our citizens and our country, but also for our economy. This is why reauthorizing the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act is so essential to our country’s continued economic well-being. Based on the evidence to date, she believes that the private sector still will not offer adequate coverage to support economic development in high risk areas. To most effectively encourage the market to develop long-term solutions we need to continue TRIA as a federal backstop, not only for the short term, but also for a mid-to-long-term time frame. That is why Congresswoman Maloney voted for the successful reauthorization of TRIA in both 2007 and 2015.

• TARP Data Disclosure: Congresswoman Maloney introduced H.R. 1242 in March 2009 because she had read report after report about questionable spending by financial institutions, whose funds were unable to be tracked after receiving taxpayer dollars through the TARP program. The TARP Accountability and Disclosure Act will increase oversight and ensure transparency in the spending of the $700 billion Congress approved in the fall of 2008. We can and must use the technological tools that are available in this day and age to get a complete, real time picture of how TARP funds are being spent. Read More

• Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act: Congresswoman Maloney has introduced the Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act. This bill would require the states to obtain information about the true ownership of a corporation when they allow its creation.  As some have put it, this bill is a “no-brainer.” And it is fairly straightforward: it would require the person creating the corporation to state the “beneficial owner” of the corporation and provide some form of identification. Read More