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A copy of prepared remarks delivered by Under Secretary for Domestic Finance Mary Miller at the American Banker Regulatory Symposium.
September 14 -
The Basel III capital proposals would severely restrict already weak lending at community banks and has to be changed, panelists said at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium. But international politics and legal requirements will make them hard to change, they acknowledged.
September 14 -
The FDIC is trying to help bankers prep for exams and more clearly understand the results as part of a broader effort at improving relations, Martin Gruenberg, the agency's acting Chairman, said.
September 14 -
In a speech at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium, the FDIC board member said that the rules are too complex and won't help stave off the next crisis.
September 14 -
In remarks planned for American Banker's Regulatory Symposium, the potential candidate for House Financial Services chairman holds little back in criticizing the central bank.
September 13 -
Banks will not regain the public's trust with good marketing, PNC chief executive officer James Rohr tells American Banker's Regulatory Symposium.
September 13
Treasury Under Secretary for Domestic Finance Mary Miller touted the benefits of the Dodd-Frank Act on Friday, warning critics that rollbacks or a repeal of the financial reform law could lead to another financial crisis.
Dodd-Frank continues to be the subject of intense debate in the banking industry and in Washington, even though it was enacted more than two years ago.
"Despite all of this progress and collaboration, opponents of reform want to repeal Dodd-Frank or significantly water down the rules," Miller said in prepared remarks at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium in Arlington, Va. Friday. "That line of thinking is dangerous. We cannot afford another financial crisis. The price of reform is small compared to the price of another September 2008."
"I fear that the further we move away from the crisis, the easier it is to forget its tremendous costs," she added.
Miller emphasized that the law was careful not to lump smaller, community banks in with some of the largest competitors. She said the law raised the federal deposit insurance limit, placed stricter capital and liquidity requirements on the biggest institutions, established Consumer Financial Protection Bureau oversight to include banks and nonbanks and required the primary regulators responsible for monitoring community banks to also enforce rules promulgated by the CFPB.
"More broadly, the CFPB is required by law to consider the impact of proposed regulations on the smallest banks, and in certain cases, to establish panels to seek direct input from such institutions before proposing a regulation," she said.
Going forward, regulators will continue to balance safety and cost with simplicity, she said, while noting that "simplicity is not always synonymous with smart."
She used the Volcker Rule proposal as an example, which critics have often criticized as being too long. Regulators famously received more than 18,000 comment letters on the proposal.
"It is hard to write a very detailed rule that would address every concern that we hear. But it is even harder to write a simple rule that is conceptually clear to handle the nuances of a complex financial system," Miller said.
