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A plan to ban proprietary trading — once considered a long shot — is now almost certain to be enacted as part of a regulatory reform bill, thanks in part to a hearing Tuesday where Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives came under withering allegations of betting against the firm's own clients.
April 27
WASHINGTON — They may not want to admit it, but bankers and regulators are undoubtedly breathing easier knowing that Sen. Carl Levin will step down at the end of 2014.
The Michigan Democrat, who said last week he will not run for reelection, became one of the loudest congressional critics of the financial services industry without the benefit of a perch on the Senate Banking Committee.
Instead he skillfully used the power of his chairmanship of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to target executives and regulatory chiefs — and put them on the defensive in hearings that produced some infamous theater.
His panel investigated the failure of Washington Mutual, Goldman Sachs securities the company allegedly knew were toxic and anti-money laundering complaints against HSBC. Levin and fellow senators liked to browbeat witnesses and release stacks of damning corporate documents to make their case in high-profile hearings.
Perhaps Levin's most famous moment following the crisis was his interrogation of Goldman Sachs executives in which he
Following Levin's announcement that he was stepping down on Thursday, the website Wonkette posted
The industry's pain isn't over just yet. On March 15 Levin will chair a hearing on JPMorgan Chase's "London Whale" trading mess.
Levin said Thursday that he and his wife "struggled with the question of whether I should run again," but ultimately decided "I can best serve my state and nation by concentrating in the next two years on the challenging issues before us that I am in a position to help address; in other words, by doing my job without the distraction of campaigning for reelection."
Levin, who has led the panel since 2007 and did another stint as chairman from 2001 to 2003, plans to zero in on tax-avoidance schemes, the rebuilding of manufacturing in Michigan and weaknesses in campaign-funding disclosures before his term ends. He will also continue serving on the Armed Services Committee.
