News Topic: regulation-reform

The Department of Justice's approach to fair lending cases during the 1990s illustrates the potential impact of creating policy through enforcement. ... Read full article

In a capitalist economy there is one market which is more important than any other - the market for capital. Yet we find a control command center at the heart of the U.S. financial system. ... Read full article

The premise behind proposed changes to money market funds is that a subordinated capital and floating net asset values will prevent "runs." Logic and evidence point to the contrary. ... Read full article

The Volcker Rule attempts to confine banks and their holding companies in a regulatory strait-jacket that is inconsistent with the changing world of finance. ... Read full article

How do we get lenders to reduce credit overlays without jeopardizing the government's ability to hold lenders accountable for misdeeds? Here are some ideas that could break the stalemate. ... Read full article

A lot of the most toxic securities were held in their so-called proprietary trading accounts, but these securities generally weren't traded. So the Volker Rule doesn't address the mislabeled problem. ... Read full article

Who would put a single dollar in an industry that has been put on notice of impending punishment of unknown severity? Telling the voting public to "stay tuned" is tantamount to telling the investing public to stay away. ... Read full article

Let's revert to a much simpler restatement of the Volcker legislative language and then actually put in place a sufficient number of savvy regulators to watch over the proprietary trading practices of the industry. ... Read full article

The FTC, with its five-person commission, was attacked by Congress for implementing a vague congressional directive. A single director at the CFPB would fare even worse. ... Read full article

Policy makers and agency leaders should speak out in favor of simplifying rules and send a signal to examiners that they do not have to be overly conservative. ... Read full article

The policy focus should be how to ensure no single financial institution becomes a single point of systemic failure - not how to mitigate the fallout when such an entity fails. ... Read full article

The U.S. and the world should follow the lead of the U.K. Vickers report and "build a fence" around banking, so shareholder equity and depositors' money can be used only to make loans to viable borrowers. ... Read full article

Putting a commission in charge of the bureau would at best produce partisan gridlock, and risks handing the young agency over to financial institutions. ... Read full article

From the Tea Party, to the anti-Wall-Street crowd, to the silent majority that is hunkered down and fearful for the future, anger at The Establishment is higher than at any time since the Vietnam era. ... Read full article

I was at a summit with 300 other community bankers when we were startled by chants of "Make Banks Pay!" Occupy Wall Street and related groups see no solutions coming out of Washington they are attacking bankers as public enemy #1. ... Read full article

Regulators' consent orders let mortgage servicers select firms to review their actions. Allowing the banks to choose their own judge, jury, and jailer presents almost untenable conflicts of interest. ... Read full article

In hinting that the consumer bureau should look at B of A's $5 debit card fee, Obama has solidified bankers' worst fears about the CFPB. ... Read full article

The "bigger is better" view was supported by the notion that economies of scale would allow for a multitude of virtuous outcomes. If only this were true. ... Read full article