Until recently, Congressman Jeb Hensarling, a Republican from Texas, was not that well known outside the beltway in Washington, D.C., and the hallways of Wall Street firms. But that is rapidly changing. Given the GOP’s control of the federal government, Hensarling may well become the sworn enemy of U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, the divisive Democrat… Read More >>
Even the GOP Worries about TBTF
It only took six years but the Republicans have finally issued a response to the much-maligned Dodd-Frank Act, and there was a disturbingly familiar refrain amid the rants of the Republican chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling, who is the proponent of the GOP alternative. To recap, moving from the… Read More >>
House Financial Services Chair Offers Plan to Gut Dodd-Frank
The Republican chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling, has unveiled a plan to repeal the Dodd-Frank Act, which he has called a “grave mistake,” and replace it with the Financial CHOICE Act. CHOICE, in the Hensarling plan, is an acronym for Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs…. Read More >>
FSB’s Capital Requirements Target ‘Too Big to Fail’
The Financial Stability Board (FSB), the six-year-old international body created in response to the Great Recession, has issued requirements intended to keep “systemically important” banks solvent particularly during crisis in an effort to prevent firms that are “too big to fail” and have to be bailed out via government funds. The financial requirements for banks… Read More >>
S&P May Cut Ratings for BofA, Citi, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley & Others
Eight major U.S. financial services firms may have another issue to worry about as ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is putting them on a watch list for ratings cuts because these firms may be affected by a proposed rule of the Federal Reserve ending bailouts for firms that are “too big to fail.” The eight… Read More >>
The Fed’s Trick-or-Treat on Too Big to Fail
Although Halloween has just passed, the U.S. Federal Reserve this past Friday officially proposed a new rule that would in theory prevent big domestic and foreign banks operating in the United States from relying on “extraordinary government support or taxpayer assistance.” In other words, the Fed is taking on firms that are “Too Big to… Read More >>
Hillary Clinton Takes On Wall Street — Or Does She?
As the 2016 race for the presidency heats up, Wall Street and its many sins are back in the spotlight. Politicians on the left are tripping over each other to find the right words to help them get as many votes as possible. Some of those words from Democratic Party candidates for the presidential nomination… Read More >>
Is ‘Too Big to Fail’ Too Big to Fix?
(Editor’s note: This is the second part of a two-part series on the problem of financial services firms that are “Too Big to Fail” and therefore must be propped up during an economic crisis at taxpayers’ expense. This problem became acute during the Great Recession and many had hoped reform legislation such as the Dodd-Frank… Read More >>
Should Glass-Steagall Be Revived to Stop ‘Too Big to Fail?’
(Editor’s note: This is the first part of a two-part series on whether in the wake of the repeal of the Glass–Steagall Act of 1932 there are financial institutions that have become “too big to fail” because they have essentially bet too much of the firm’s money on highly risky capital markets. The recent turmoil… Read More >>
JPMorgan Targets ‘Too Big To Fail’ CCPs
Do central counterparty clearing houses (CCPs) take seriously enough the suggestion — made by many analysts and market participants — that they might become “too big to fail?” That question has hung in the air for years now, ever since post-crisis regulatory reforms assigned CCPs a key role in derivatives markets. Attempts to provide an… Read More >>
