(Reuters) – When Sheila Bair showed up for a meeting in then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s office in October 2008, the bank regulator had no idea she was about to be asked to guarantee the debts of the entire $13 trillion U.S. banking system.
Bair, who was in charge of backing U.S. bank deposits, had not been told the purpose of the meeting and was surprised to find top regulators waiting for her with the proposal and a script prepared for her to read to the press.
TORONTO, Sept 19 (Reuters) – Tougher regulation of financial institutions and higher capital ratios at banks are necessary in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the head of Goldman Sachs on Wednesday, even as he acknowledged that such safeguards carried some costs.
Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and chief executive of the New York-based investment bank, said he sees financial regulation evolving now just as it did in the aftermath of the Great Depression of the 1930’s.
“You have to go out and you have to take steps. You have to have different regulation, maybe more regulation in certain respects,” he said, while addressing a financial gathering in Toronto.
From: New York Times
By BEN PROTESS
Lawmakers are pushing a bill that could curb the influence of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and other regulators, according to Congressional staff members and government watchdog groups.
The measure, which a Senate committee is planning to debate this month, aims to empower the president in the rule-writing process. The proposal would allow the White House to second-guess major rules and mandate that agencies carefully study the economic effects of new regulation. The change could, in effect, delay a number of rules for the financial industry.
Editor’s Note: For more information on federal data security requirements, please see FISMA Focus.
From: Information Management
By John Adams
When Peoples Bank & Trust’s email system crashed earlier this summer, it turned to a hosted solution to ensure future continuity, and thus triggered an emerging and muddled compliance challenge many banks face.