Reid: Republicans Must Stop Making Love To Wall Street

By Antonia Aguilar - University of New Mexico / Talk Radio News Service

“The Republicans are having difficulty determining how they’re going to continue making love to Wall Street,” said Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) at a press briefing Wednesday where he accused Republicans of delaying the progress of financial reform through the Senate.

“The Republicans have stopped us from doing anything on this bill. We are doing absolutely nothing on the floor and it's very, very troubling for all of us,” said Reid after lamenting on other key issues the Senate has yet to address because financial reform hasn’t been passed.

Reid stressed that two weeks after financial reform was proposed to the Senate, Wall Street is still operating under the same programs that they did when they started their “fly-by-night scams” that lead to the financial crisis.

“Programs are still in place,” Reid said. “We don’t have the rules to enforce anything, thats what this legislation is all about and its a shame that we haven't been able to move to it.”

The Majority Leader said he hopes to get enough support to pass legislation through the floor but remains skeptical of a quick turn out in light of recent disagreements with Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-AL).

“It's obvious that [Republicans] do not want to put any decent restrictions on what Wall Street has done or are doing and that's pretty clear,” said Reid.

Geithner Urges Congress To Act On Financial Regulatory Reform

By Leah Valencia, University of New Mexico - Talk Radio News Service

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urged Congress to act quickly in executing a comprehensive overhaul of the financial regulatory system, telling members of the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday that, "Time is the enemy of reform."

Geithner said lawmakers must act to correct the regulatory problems that have left the financial system in disarray.

"As some normalcy returns to our financial system and our economy, we cannot let it be cause for complacency," he said in a hearing on Capitol Hill. "We simply cannot walk away from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and not do everything in our power to reform the system."

Geithner explained that the regulatory reform plan proposed in June by the Obama administration aims to achieve three main goals, including providing consumer protection, creating a new financial system less prone to crisis and safeguarding taxpayers from bearing costs of future crises.

A key aspect of the proposal seeks to merge the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision into a new consumer financial protection agency. Lawmakers from both parties raised concerns about such an agency.

House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) wrote proposed changes to the consumer agency in a memo Tuesday. The changes excluded a range of non-financial businesses, such as retailers and auto dealers, from oversight by the agency. Frank also said he plans to fund the agency in a way that would not burden financial institutions, and will no longer require them to offer "plain vanilla" financial products, such as 30-year fixed mortgages.

Geithner said in his testimony that all institutions providing financial credit should be subject to the same regulation and credit standards as banks, but he did not indicate whether these standards would extend to non-financial businesses

"If you are in the business of providing financial credit and you are competing with banks and thrifts to do that, there should be a common set of standards," he said. "In general, we're very supportive of the changes proposed by the chairman."

Frank said he will be holding a series of hearings on the regulatory proposal in coming weeks and plans to have legistlation in the House and Senate by the end of the year.

"This is going to be a very time-consuming committee in October and November," Frank said.

The new legislation would mark the most drastic governance changes for financial institutions implemented in seven decades.

“Frank” Views On Regulatory Reform

By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service

U.S. Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.) called Monday for the need for financial regulation enforcement.

Frank, the Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, issued remarks at a luncheon held at the National Press Club.

“We need to regulate for normal human beings and that’s what we hope to do. We think it’s important for there to be both regulatory structures that provide focused responsibility for the right kind of regulation and the appointment of individuals to do it,” said Frank.

Frank's committee released a list of elements needed for regulatory reform. The list calls for a systemic risk regulator to identify and react to risks which arise from entities or activities that have the potential to jeopardize the financial system as a whole.

Frank also focused on consumer protection. His committee would like to propose a separate Consumer Financial Protection Agency for this purpose.

Said the Congressman, “I believe we can protect consumers from abuses without endangering the system...I invite the judgement of failure if we are not able to deliver that, and I will tell you I am not politically inclined to take on responsibility I don’t think I can handle.”

Frank believes that a legislative package with these things included will be presented by the end of the year.

In addition, Frank implored his committee to address issues such as securitization market accountability, an end to regulatory arbitrage in domestic and international markets, and the tightening of derivative regulations.

Financial Leaders Applaud Administration's Regulatory Reform Efforts

By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service

Financial industry leaders were in agreement Friday that the Obama administration’s proposed financial regulatory reform is necessary, noting that the reform will renovate and strengthen the financial marketplace and many of its regulations. During a Committee on Financial Services hearing Friday, many of the panelists applauded the administration’s proposal.

“We fully support the Administration’s five key principles for strengthening consumer protection-transparency, simplicity, fairness, accountability, and access-and we are pleased to see the Chairman carry these principles forward as he works to fill the regulatory gaps to protect consumers,” said Diahann Lassus on behalf of the Financial Planning Coalition.

Other panelists highlighted the administration’s “diagnosis of the deficiencies” of the current financial framework. They said it is outdated and some aspects have led to confusion and inefficiencies for years now.

Regulations received much attention with panelist Robert Nicholas, President and COO of Financial Services Forum, saying the framework as it currently stands, “undermines regulators’ ability to ensure institutional and systemic safety and soundness-helping to create the opportunity for, and exacerbating, the current financial crisis.”

Committee member Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) noted a survey by ShareOwners.org that sites 58 percent of investors are now "less confident in the fairness of the financial markets" than they were one year ago. He noted that a major reason for the lack of confidence is due to the failure of regulators.

"We must enact strong new laws," said Kanjorski.