Category: Market Regulation
The analysis published under this category are as follows.Friday, March 05, 2010
Whither Financial Reforms on Fear of a Second Crash? / Politics / Market Regulation
What will it take? What are they waiting for? What part of the reality of a systemic crisis that will get worse don’t they get?
How is it possible that after near three years of economic turmoil, with possibly hundreds of TRILLIONs down the rabbit hole—not that anyone is counting or apparently can count—that the geniuses who run our economy still don’t “get” that the sh*t has already hit the fan? How many more jobs and homes have to be lost?
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Real Financial Reform... or Political Gridlock? / Politics / Market Regulation
Shah Gilani writes: U.S. senators Christopher Dodd, D-CT, and Bob Corker, R-TN, have fashioned a compromise on stalled banking regulation that straddles divisions over establishing a financial consumer protection agency and addresses unwinding too-big-to-fail firms.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, February 19, 2010
Why Talk of Re-Regulating Wall Street is Just Talk / Politics / Market Regulation
Congress continues to promise tough regulation of the financial industry. Another version of a reform bill is expected to reach the Senate for debate next week.
It’s all window-dressing! More months will pass, during which investors and consumers will hear assurances that tough reforms will take place. But nothing meaningful will be forthcoming.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
How the Demise of Glass-Steagall Helped Spawn the Credit Crisis / Politics / Market Regulation
By Shah Gilani
Question: Please address why the removal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 caused the financial meltdown of 2007 and why its reinstatement is the only way to stop the financially risky behavior allowed after it's removal. Address why we will very likely have another meltdown (probably in 2010) unless reinstated.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
The Myth of Financial Deregulation, Volcker Cannot Prevent Boom-Bust Cycles / Politics / Market Regulation
Does It Make Sense to Resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act?
At the end of January, President Barack Obama announced that he is planning to introduce new regulations for the banking industry, to prevent excessive speculation. According to the president, no bank or financial institution that contains a bank will own, invest in, or sponsor a hedge fund or private equity fund, or have proprietary trading operations unrelated to serving customers for its own profit.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, February 12, 2010
Time For Banks to Stop High-Risk Trading / Companies / Market Regulation
Shah Gilani writes: When members of the Senate Banking Committee recently asked Paul A. Volcker how regulators would identify banks engaged in excessive, high-risk trading, the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman quipped: "It's like pornography - you know it when you see it."
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, February 08, 2010
Markets Fail When Humans Are Unregulated / Politics / Market Regulation
Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan answered that he had placed his trust in a flawed theory when he was called before Congress to explain why he, Goldman Sachs Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Deputy Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, prevented Brooksley Born, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Corporation, a government regulatory agency, from doing her job of regulating over-the-counter derivatives.
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Financial Giants Overshadow Governments,The Reason Why the U.S. Is Not Regulating Wall Street / Politics / Market Regulation
Sure, American politicians have been bought and paid for by the Wall Street giants.
And everyone knows that the White House and Congress - while talking about cracking down on Wall Street with strict regulation - have actually watered down some of the most important protections that were in place.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Banking Sector Regulation, A Breath of Fresh Volker / Politics / Market Regulation
There are moments in history that define a change of direction, Paul Volker’s testimony on Capital Hill last night was one of them. Perhaps it’s a co-incidence, but the minute he opened his mouth the 10-Year yield dropped, gold’s new breakout attempt stalled, and the S&P 500 rose.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Risk Weighted Capital Adequacy: The Elephant In The Davos Jacuzzi / Stock-Markets / Market Regulation
One of the “pillars” of financial regulation is the idea of risk weighting.
The way that works is that “assets” which in the case of banks are typically either loans to other people or securities held by the bank like US Treasuries or Sub-prime RMBS (the Brits call those bonds), are assigned a risk weighting by the regulator.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, January 29, 2010
More Government in the Financial Sector to Save Capitalism / Politics / Market Regulation
I am a Capitalist Pig, and proud of it, thus you would not expect me to support government interference and more strenuous regulation of financial institutions – after all, capitalism (free markets) and tight regulation don't mix well. Well, at the risk of been kicked out of the Capitalistic Pig Party, I am in support of tighter regulation of too-big-to-fail (TBTF) institutions – the likes of Citigroup, JPMorgan, Bank America, and (God forbid; after all, they are doing “God’s work” – their CEO’s words, not mine) Goldman Sachs.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, January 29, 2010
Banks Under Attack From Washington, The Impact on You / Politics / Market Regulation
These days, the financial industry’s locus of power can’t be found in London. It’s not in New York City. Frankfurt? Tokyo? Davos, Switzerland? Nope, nope, and nope.
The real decisions that impact the capital markets are being made in Washington. And they’re sometimes being made by politicians who don’t really have a clue about how the industry works, or what unintended consequences their actions may have. If that doesn’t scare you, I don’t know what will.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Paul Volcker Financial Sector Reform Plan Sparks Split Between JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs / Politics / Market Regulation
Paul Volcker is back and things are about to change in Washington. A split has occurred between the paper forces of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase. Mr. Volcker represents Morgan interests. The Morgan side is tired of Goldman’s greed and arrogance. Volcker cannot be called old school or anachronistic. He represents sanity in an insane financial world even though he is an integral and powerful part of the elitist structure. He represents a change in gears and approach.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Why the Volcker Banking Crisis Plan Doesn’t Go Far Enough / Politics / Market Regulation
Martin Hutchinson writes: I don't often agree with the Obama administration. So I have to say that I was surprised when I heard it had a plan to reduce the risk of another banking crisis. It wants to prohibit banks that are protected by deposit insurance from engaging in risky, proprietary trading, and it wants to break up some of the very largest banks.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, January 22, 2010
How to Empower Shareholders and Improve Corporate Management in Two Easy Steps / Politics / Market Regulation
Martin Hutchinson writes: wrote last week that Wall Street bonuses should be cut back by the shareholders, not by the government.
Well, a reader wrote back correctly to remind me that the majority of shareholders are institutions that would not want to antagonize major corporations that gave out fund management mandates for their pension funds and 401(k)s by agitating against top management bonuses.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Will Obama Respond to U.S. Voter Anger at Lack of Action on Banksters / Politics / Market Regulation
After a Massachusetts wake-up call Obama has decided to pay more attention to Paul Volcker. Is it too little, too late to quell public anger? What will the effects be if new Glass-Steagall legislation is enacted?
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Sack The Financial Market Regulators / Politics / Market Regulation
The ‘Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission’ began operations last week and heard testimony from four heads of the financial industry. Not surprisingly, the tone was resoundingly negative - Inquiry Chairman, Philip Angelides, attacked Goldman’s Lloyd Blankfein, Krugman called the bankers ‘clueless’, and Ritholtz posted a graphic depicting what was really on the minds of the sleazy bankers. Also not surprising was that no one made the case that what these bankers did was illegal and/or prosecutable.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, January 11, 2010
Regulators Seek to Throw Light on Hedge Fund Impact in Energy Trading / Commodities / Market Regulation
Do hedge funds have an impact on energy trading?
While the answer might seem intuitive, the debate as to whether they actually do has come to resemble the medieval theological dispute about how many angels can dance on the head of the pin.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Financial Reform Just Camouflage for Wall Street’s Latest Power Play / Politics / Market Regulation
Shah Gilani writes: Anti-Wall Street sentiment makes for a good cover, but behind the scenes and rhetoric, legislators are working with the country's largest financial firms to fashion a new system that concentrates even more risk and reward at fewer banks.
And what's more, the underlying socialization of the system will guarantee the success of excess with the full faith and credit of taxpayers.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
New Derivatives Regulation Is Weaker Than Current, Resulting in Greater Destabilisation of Economy / Politics / Market Regulation
As I have repeatedly pointed out, proposed derivatives legislation will not make things better:
A leading credit default swap expert (Satyajit Das) says that the new credit default swap regulations not only won't help stabilize the economy, they might actually help to destabilize it.
Read full article... Read full article...