Credit Suisse Spent $1.8M Lobbying

Credit Suisse Spent $1.8M Lobbying in 2007 on Financial Market Regulation, Mortgage Caps WASHINGTON (AP) -- Credit Suisse Securities, a unit of Swiss financial services company Credit Suisse Group, spent $1.8 million last year to lobby on financial market regulation and other issues. The company lobbied on issues related to hedge fund supervision, securities regulation, reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, executive compensation and rules for reviewing foreign investment in the United States, according to a disclosure form posted online Feb. 13 by the Senate's public records office. Credit Suisse and many other large banks have lobbied to increase the size of the mortgages that can be purchased by the Fannie and Freddie, the two U.S. mortgage finance agencies, from $417,000 to $729,750. That cap was temporarily raised for mortgages in high-cost areas in the economic stimulus package signed by President Bush last month. The company spent $880,000 in the second half of last year to lobby on the same issues. Lobbyists are required to disclose activities that could influence members of the executive and legislative branches, under a federal law enacted in 1995.