The Federal Financial Forum

From: HuffPo

Shahien Nasiripour

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government on Monday preliminarily designated at least three financial companies as having the potential to pose a grave threat to the financial system, the first time regulators have used post-financial crisis authority to crack down on companies that have previously escaped federal attention.

AIG, the bailed-out insurance giant; Prudential Financial, the life insurer and asset manager; and GE Capital, the $530 billion lender responsible for a bulk of GE’s profit in recent years, all confirmed that the panel of regulators known as the Financial Stability Oversight Council has proposed to tag them as being so-called systemically important financial institutions, or SIFIs.

From: Wall Street Journal

By Liz Moyer

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker said the U.S. doesn’t need six financial regulatory agencies and the current system has overlaps and loopholes that play into the hands of lobbyists.

Speaking at a luncheon before the Economic Club of New York, which gave him a leadership excellence award, Volcker said only two or three agencies were needed. He said he thought the Fed should be one of those, and one overseeing depositary institutions would also be necessary.

Editor’s Note:  Federal agencies can benefit from studying foreign regulators’ work before deciding to undertake their own regulatory experiments.

From: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Article by Gunnar Schuster and Alexandra Dreibus

ummary

The German Parliament adopted new regulatory requirements for algorithmic and high frequency trading. In the future, high frequency traders on German regulated markets or MTFs will be subject to a license requirement.

From: DTCC

Survey Polls Industry Leaders on Biggest Challenges to Mitigating Risk

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 09, 2013--

The impact of new regulations in the financial services industry is by far the most important systemic-risk concern facing the global capital markets, according to a recent client survey conducted by The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). The survey revealed that 82% of industry leaders ranked meeting new regulatory requirements as a top concern in mitigating systemic risks.

Editor’s Note:  As CRE explained more than six years ago, regulation of payday-type loans requires strict agency compliance with the Data Quality Act and other “good government” laws.

From: The Guardian

Helaine Olen

A bill to reduce Alabama’s 456%-high interest rate failed this week, further proof that Washington needs to step in now 

The latest evidence that we need Washington to step in and provide comprehensive reform of the payday loan industry came this weekend courtesy of the state of Alabama, where legislation that would have capped such loans at a 36% interest rate died in the final hours of the state legislative session.