Financial Chiefs Say Cooperation Key To Implementing Wall Street Reform

The heads of nearly every major federal regulatory agency told members of the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday that they are working together to slowly craft new rules that will govern the way the nation’s private financial sector operates.

Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Ben Bernanke said cooperation between agencies is crucial to successfully implementing provisions within the Wall Street reform bill that was passed earlier this year.

“It is essential that the (law) be carried out expeditiously and effectively,” Bernanke said. “Coordination’s going to be extremely important.”

Bernanke was joined on Capitol Hill by SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro, FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair and Deputy Treasury Secretary Neil Wolin. As part of the new law, the group will meet weekly with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to examine the stability of the financial sector.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the agency heads will collaborate on writing new rules that will dictate the behavior of big financial companies nationwide. Specifically, one of their duties will be to identify and monitor so-called “too big to fail” firms.

SEC Chair Expects Commission To "Hit The Ground Running"

By Sarah Mamula - Talk Radio News Service

With the signing of the Dodd-Frank reform bill last week, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Mary Schapiro said Tuesday that massive reforms on Wall Street will soon start to take affect. Schapiro said the commission will “hit the ground running” as it prepares to tackle close to 100 new regulatory rules.

Schapiro said that the commission plans to move forward by incorporating the input of the public and by ensuring transparency is established.

“The idea is to offer maximum opportunity for public comment and to provide greater transparency,” said Schapiro.

The SEC Chair said interested parties will be able to offer their ideas on financial regulatory laws through emails, comments and scheduled meetings with the SEC staff. 

“We are determined to do this right,” said Schapiro.

Schapiro said the SEC plans to work on provisions including broker-dealer standards, transparency of corporate financial information and ensuring hedge fund advisers are registered with the commission.  The SEC Chair said this would ultimately allow the commission to track the private funds these professionals advise. 

Schapiro also said the agency is “energized” and prepared to implement provisions of the new financial regulatory bill, but has also asked Congress for approximately 800 more staffers to take on the job.

“Our goal is a high quality regulatory regime in the United States,” said Schapiro. “We do expect that we can show leadership in a lot of these areas.”