Financial Regulatory Forum

By Peter Elstob

LONDON, April 12 (Complinet) – The Independent Commission on Banking said on Monday that separating retail and wholesale banking in some way might have “a number of potential benefits”, and it invited views on the best design for a “retail ring-fence”.

In an annex to its interim report, the commission illustrated one way to devise such a ring-fence. This is to divide banking business into three broad categories: activities which must take place within the ring-fence; activities which may take place within it; and those which may not take place within it.

But the example leaves a lot of room for interpretation. (more…)

By Kevin Drawbaugh

WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) – If Republicans make big gains in U.S. Congressional elections on Tuesday, as expected, Wall Street and big banks will have sweet, but incomplete, revenge on Democrats who drove through sweeping financial reforms against industry opposition.

The likeliest outcome of Democrats losing control of one or both chambers of Congress will be divided government and two years of legislative gridlock on issues important to the financial services sector, said policy analysts and aides.

That means the sector’s regulatory headaches — near migraine level following the enactment in July of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act — won’t get worse, but probably won’t get much better, either.

By Steve Eder

NEW YORK, June 25 (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers have hammered out a law that is designed to fundamentally change Wall Street, but financial professionals largely yawned.

Legislators took steps that at first blush could change the industry, including limiting banks’ swaps-dealing operations and their investments in private equity and hedge funds.

But in the end, banks like Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley won concessions that watered down the proposals that could have been most damaging to their profits, staving off a watershed overhaul like the one that took place after the Great Depression.

WASHINGTON, June 8 (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln, an Arkansas moderate Democrat, is buoyed by winning nomination to a third term in the Senate but not sure of victory for her hot-button Wall Street reform — forcing big banks to spin off their swaps desks.

The proposal is one of the salient disputes for House-Senate negotiations that could begin this week on a financial regulatory reform law. The Senate endorsed the idea. The House is silent on the question.

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By Kevin Drawbaugh

WASHINGTON, June 7 (Reuters) – Negotiators from the U.S. Senate and House will begin meeting this week to craft a final Wall Street reform bill, with banks facing changes that threaten their profits, if not their business models.

Some congressional Democrats want to fashion a bill that forces a basic banking industry restructuring, but leaders will have to balance that agenda against the need to forge compromise legislation that retains some Republican support.

Analysts are expecting that fundamental restructuring will be avoided, “This bill is more about profitability and less about viability. That means the legislation will hurt the banking sector, but it will not sink it,” said Jaret Seiberg, a policy analyst at investment firm Concept Capital.

May 21 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved a bill that would overhaul the country’s financial system and usher in new rules for Wall Street.

While last-minute changes are still possible, below are some of the likely winners and losers under the bill.

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    FRANKFURT, April 12 (Reuters) – U.S. banking supervisors could get indirect powers to ban proprietary trading by banks even if the “Volcker rule” is not in the financial reform bill, a banking consultant with close contact to decision-makers said. (more…)

– John Kemp is a Reuters columnist. The views expressed are his own –

By John Kemp

LONDON, March 16 (Reuters) – Paul Volcker’s proposed ban on banks’ proprietary trading or owning hedge funds or private equity funds has been unexpectedly revived in the financial regulation bill published by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd yesterday.

The Volcker Rule’s surprise survival comes despite fierce opposition from the banking industry and after many commentators had written it off as a short-term political gimmick in the wake of the shock election defeat in Massachusetts. Dodd himself had appeared lukewarm.

By Matt Falloon

LONDON, March 8 (Reuters) – Britain wants to remove the implicit taxpayer subsidy to banks but must not be left alone in clamping down on the financial sector, financial services minister Paul Myners said on Monday.

In a speech to bankers in London, Myners said there was a risk that high-flying financiers had not learned their lesson from the financial crisis and stringent reforms were needed to change behaviour.

Policymakers are increasingly mindful that improving economic conditions across the world may diminish the appetite to overhaul the financial system following the credit crisis.