Financial Regulatory Forum

By Kevin Drawbaugh

WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives approved a procedural rule on Wednesday that cleared the way for floor debate to begin on legislation that would give the government broad new powers over large financial firms and tighten bank and capital market regulation.

In a 235-177 vote, Democrats pushed through the rule, with only a handful from their own ranks voting in opposition, after settling differences among themselves over more than 200 proposed amendments. All Republicans voting opposed the rule.

President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats see financial regulation reform as crucial to preventing a repeat of last year’s financial crisis and the taxpayer bailouts that followed of companies such as AIG and Citigroup.

On Thursday, lawmakers are expected to propose a flood of amendments to the 1,279-page bill, hammered out over months of discussion and compromise at the committee level.

House leaders hope to bring the measure to a final vote by Friday, before the holiday break. Approval in the House, which analysts widely expect, would throw the financial reform agenda into the Senate where debate will likely go well into 2010.

   WASHINGTON, Nov 6 (Reuters) – Senator Bernie Sanders on Friday introduced legislation that would make the U.S. Treasury Department identify and break up financial institutions that are “too big to fail.”

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   WASHINGTON, Oct 30 (Reuters) – U.S. Representative Barney Frank has changed his position and supports requiring large financial firms to make payments into a fund for unwinding troubled competitors before the money is needed, an aide said on Friday.

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   By Kevin Drawbaugh
WASHINGTON, Oct 27 (Reuters) – The Obama administration made gains on Tuesday in its push for U.S. financial reform, unveiling a landmark bill to tackle systemic risk in the economy and winning congressional committee approval for a measure to expose hedge funds to more government scrutiny.The systemic risk bill would grant vast powers to a new systemic risk regulatory council, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp to monitor and address risks to economic stability posed by shaky financial holding companies.

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By Kevin Drawbaugh and Rachelle Younglai
WASHINGTON, Oct 27 (Reuters) – The U.S. government would gain far-reaching new powers to regulate, and even shut down, large financial firms that threaten economic stability under a draft bill released in Congress on Tuesday.

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By Kevin Drawbaugh and Rachelle Younglai
WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) – A U.S. congressional committee has dropped a key provision from a financial reform bill aimed at reducing investor reliance on credit ratings, according to draft legislation released on Tuesday.

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By Kevin Drawbaugh and Charles Abbott

WASHINGTON, Oct 15 (Reuters) – The Obama administration scored its first financial regulation reform victory in months on Thursday when a U.S. congressional committee approved new regulations for over-the-counter derivatives.

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WASHINGTON, Oct 15 (Reuters) – New rules for the largely unpoliced, $450-trillion over-the-counter derivatives market were approved by a key U.S. congressional committee on Thursday in a win for the Obama administration.

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WASHINGTON, Oct 6 (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to debate financial regulatory reform next month, Democratic leader Steny Hoyer said on Tuesday.

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