Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) is a United States industry trade group representing securities firms, banks, and asset management companies. SIFMA was formed on November 1, 2006, from the merger of the Bond Market Association and the Securities Industry Association. It has offices in New York City and Washington, D.C.

In October 2008, SIFMA reduced its staff by 25% or more due to the financial crisis of 2007–08 which left its member firms in financial straits, and the loss of three of its primary member firms—Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and Merrill Lynch. The dismissals came at the same time as the United States Congress was considering changes in the country's financial regulatory structure. SIFMA announced in May 2009 that it would also shed its London-based European operation. That operation was merged into the London Investment Banking Association (LIBA).

The 350-member American Securitization Forum (ASF) formerly operated as a forum of SIFMA. On January 14, 2010, ASF announced that it had chosen to terminate its affiliation with SIFMA as well.

In January 2010, SIFMA announced that it had hired the law firm Sidley Austin to consider filing a lawsuit challenging the Obama administration's banking levy. But an attorney familiar with the matter said: "I suspect SIFMA got out ahead of its key members." One person with a large bank said SIFMA had not consulted the bank about its position, and that it was "wildly premature" to pursue legal action.

In October 2010, CEO Tim Ryan announced the organization's opposition in the residential real estate market to a "system wide moratorium on all foreclosures," reacting to problems and pullbacks in the market by a number of SIFMA members, saying a moratorium "would be catastrophic." Financial writer Felix Salmon drew attention to the position, terming it "unhelpful," detailing it as "bizarre" and "sad, ... an inchoate and unhelpful blast of opposition ... [without] constructive solutions" proposed.

...
Wikipedia