Category — Reregulation of Banking and Financial Services

In the aftermath of the capital market, credit market and banking crises that have gripped the U.S. economy, President Obama and his administration have called for broad reforms of the American financial system.  To that end, the United States Department of the Treasury released the General Explanations of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2010 Revenue Proposals (the “Tax Proposals”) on May 11, 2009.  [Read more →]

In the aftermath of the capital market, credit market and banking crises that have gripped the U.S. economy, President Obama and his administration have called for broad reforms of the American financial system.  President Obama recently suggested that a “more vigorous regulatory regime” would restore confidence in the American financial system and attract foreign capital to U.S.-based investments.  To that end, three notable bills have been introduced since Obama’s inauguration on January 20, 2009.  [Read more →]

Today, May 20, 2009, President Obama signed the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act, authorizing more than $280 million for federal fraud enforcement and specifically expanding the reach of federal fraud statutes.  With the powers now being aggressively exercised by the Special Inspector General for the Toxic Asset Recovery Program, and the mandate issued to the inspectors general of all funding agencies under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,  criminal, civil and administrative scrutiny of the use and accounting for all federal funding and private lending practices will be intense.  [Read more →]

The Treasury Department announced that the results of its comprehensive bank stress tests will be made available soon. The comprehensive stress tests and other traditional methods of evaluating bank performance are yielding results that some banks will find of critical importance in dealing with regulators, their customers and their shareholders. The public disclosure of this information by Treasury complicates matters. During this critical time, financial institutions in crisis need to focus on four key areas among the many challenges they face. [Read more →]

Part of Anticipated Comprehensive Federal Regulatory Reform

For the last several months, different members of the Senate and House Agriculture Committees and Financial and Banking Services Committees have proposed bills regulating the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market. Recently, the Obama Administration has proposed comprehensive Federal regulatory reform that includes a comprehensive framework  for the oversight and protection and disclosure of the OTC derivatives market.  [Read more →]

Part of Anticipated Comprehensive Federal Regulatory Reform

The Obama Administration’s proposed comprehensive Federal regulatory reform to address the gaps and weaknesses that have been exposed over the past 18 months in the existing regulatory system for the financial markets is beginning to take form.  In testimony last week before the House Committee on Financial Services, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner explained the need for “comprehensive reform.  Not modest repairs at the margin, but new rules of the game.  The new rules must be simpler and more effectively enforced and produce a more stable system, that protects consumers and investors, that rewards innovation and that is able to adapt and evolve with changes in the financial market.”  [Read more →]