Sky Blog
In the aftermath of the 2007—2009 financial crisis, policymakers around the globe responded to calls for greater transparency in the financial system by adopting new rules and institutions that required more and better information disclosure by financial institutions. For example, …
As we approach the 10-year anniversary of the failure of Lehman Brothers, the news is again awash in a debate about whether policymakers could have saved the investment bank. That the issue remains so deeply contested reflects how fundamentally flawed …
In response to the growing practice of “appraisal arbitrage,” in 2016 Delaware’s General Assembly amended the state’s appraisal statute, Section 262 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. The amendment to Section 262(h) granted corporations the option to “prepay” appraisal claimants …
Central bank law is an unloved part of public law. Maybe that’s because commercial litigators cannot sue central banks, advise the people that sell bonds to them, or argue cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court to create new …
On January 29, 2018, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC (the “Agencies”) released feedback letters to 19 foreign banking organizations (“FBOs”) that last filed plans by December 31, 2015 (the “FBO Feedback”).[1] The …
The U.S. high-yield and investment-grade debt markets saw significant increases in 2017 over 2016 in dollar volume and number of issuances.[1] The U.S. equity indices reached new highs throughout the year, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 index ending …
Scholars are attempting to fully understand all the causes of the 2007-09 U.S. financial crisis, hoping their efforts will ensure that something like this will not happen again. Nonetheless, in this research, weaknesses in mortgage servicing regulation have been largely …
The Federal Reserve’s proposed supervisory guidance on corporate governance is a breath of fresh air that should encourage banking boards to focus on their core responsibilities and avoid blurring the distinctions between executive and non-executive duties. It is also a …
The capstone of regulatory reform in the wake of the financial crisis can be characterized as an effort to change the financial industry by getting bankers to behave more ethically. Regulators have emphasized the importance of “culture” set by a …
On August 3, the Federal Reserve (Fed) proposed for comment a new supervisory rating system to assess the safety and soundness of Large Financial Institutions (LFIs).1 This is the first change to the Fed’s supervisory rating system since the …
On August 3, the Federal Reserve (Fed) proposed for comment supervisory guidance for boards
of directors of Fed-supervised institutions1 (i.e., Board Effectiveness (BE) guidance). The proposed BE guidance is the result of a multi-year review by the Fed of …
The recently released public sections of the 2017 resolution plans submitted by the eight US global systemically important banks (G-SIBs)1 provide a unique window into the banks’ resolution planning efforts that have developed over the last five years. Notably, …
Fair lending compliance and community benefit plans are increasingly important factors in the merger and acquisition (M&A) approval process. In 2016 and the first quarter of 2017, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve) approved 20 …
I want to thank Neel Kashkari for launching the Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute and for inviting me to join the deliberations of this distinguished group today [May 22]. This new Institute is another great example of how individual Reserve …
Notwithstanding decidedly hostile testimony last month from this humble columnist,[1] the U.S. House of Representatives will soon pass legislation (probably on a strict party-line basis) entitled, “The Financial CHOICE Act of 2017” (H.R. 10) (which acronym stands for “Creating …
It is a pleasure to be at the Hoover Institution again. I was privileged to be a Visiting Scholar here from 1981 to 1982. In addition, many of the researchers and practitioners with whom I have discussed monetary policy over …
In the 100 days since his election, President Trump and members of his cabinet have continued public calls for a rollback of Dodd-Frank and related regulations enacted since the financial crisis, while offering few concrete actions or proposals. Initially, Wall …
We can learn a lot from the evolution of smartphones as we try to envisage where the fintech ecosystem–and banks’ role within it–might be heading in the future. Smartphones have ushered in an age when different companies can easily work …
I appreciate your invitation to participate in this [April 19] panel discussion. In my remarks, I will discuss how U.S. monetary policy actions affect our foreign trading partners, with particular focus on how foreign economies have responded to the Federal …
Thank you for inviting me to speak here today (April 20).1 I will begin by looking back at the global financial crisis and the great recession, which were arriving on the horizon at about this time 10 years ago. …