FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 3, 2025
Contact: Andy Morrison, New Economy Project, andy@neweconomynyc.org, 716-308-2265
NYS Coalition Urges Hochul to Appoint Financial Services Regulator Who Will Crack Down on Predatory Lenders and Advance Bold Solutions to Banking Inequality
Following Governor Kathy Hochul’s announcement that Adrienne Harris, Superintendent of the NYS Department of Financial Services, will step down from her role on October 17, a broad-based, statewide coalition of New York organizations released the following statement:
“Governor Hochul must appoint a financial services superintendent who will strenuously defend New Yorkers from rampant financial predation and expand responsible lending and financial services across our state. With the Trump administration dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and federal regulators giving free rein to banks and tech giants that exploit low-income and working people, DFS must address financial extraction head-on, as a matter of racial and economic justice.
“New Yorkers need a DFS superintendent who will vigorously enforce New York’s usury laws—especially against the rapidly proliferating payday loan app industry, which has siphoned more than half a billion dollars from New Yorkers’ paychecks since 2019. DFS already has robust tools available. In 2013, the agency choked off illegal online payday lending by demanding that banks cut off ACH access to payday lenders. The next superintendent must similarly wield DFS’s broad authority to protect low-income New Yorkers from a new wave of app-based payday lenders and other financial predators.
“The Governor’s appointee must be a stalwart champion for a truly affordable New York—willing to challenge predatory practices disguised as ‘innovation,’ and committed to advancing bold solutions to banking inequality. Strong regulation must go hand in hand with transformative strategies—from public banking to the expansion of New York’s robust network of community development financial institutions.”
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The NYS Community Equity Agenda is a statewide coalition of community, labor, civil rights, and legal services groups, faith-based and cooperative organizations, and community development financial institutions fighting for economic democracy and racial justice in New York.
