Sky Blog
While much attention has been paid to President Trump’s deregulatory efforts and intentions, presidential involvement in the work of the administrative agencies is not new. Past presidents including Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama have acted up to – …
The Financial Stability Oversight Council’s (FSOC) recently revised guidelines (the 2019 Guidelines)[1] on how it will identify and address financial stability risks are a major shift from the guidelines it issued in the immediate aftermath of …
On December 4, 2019, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (the “Council”) voted unanimously to finalize amendments to its interpretive guidance (the “Final Guidance”) on designating nonbank financial companies as “systemically important financial institutions” (“SIFIs”).…
Shocks to only part of the financial system, such as the collapse of the subprime mortgage market in 2007, can spread and intensify through the complex interconnections among financial and non-financial institutions to become systemic threats. The consequences can be …
One of the principal lessons learned from the 2007-2009 financial crisis was the need for new legal regimes to facilitate the rapid and orderly resolution of systemically important financial institutions without a government bailout. In the final part of a …
On March 6, 2019, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (“FSOC”) issued new proposed guidance (the “Proposal”) regarding the designation of nonbank financial companies as “systemically important financial institutions” (“SIFIs”).[1] The Proposal makes substantial …
The unnerving events of fall 2008 removed all doubt that investment banks and other nonbank financial firms can propagate systemic risk and endanger the world’s financial system. In response, Congress instituted a robust system for regulating systemic risk posed by …
On October 18, federal regulators released the largest U.S. insurance group, Prudential Financial, Inc., from enhanced government oversight. Prudential had been the last remaining systemically important financial institution (SIFI)—a designation Congress created in the Dodd-Frank Act for nonbank financial companies …
Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee, led by Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), approved their “Financial CHOICE Act” (FCA) legislation on a party-line 34-26 vote on May 4, clearing the way for consideration on the House floor in the coming …
Attacks on the authority of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (“FSOC”) to designate non-bank financial firms as systemically important, and thus subject to the Fed’s oversight, are misguided. [1] Such authority is essential to the long-term maintenance of financial stability, …
The latest chapter in the saga of resolution planning under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) unfolded in December 2016 when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”) and the Board of Governors of …
The latest Wells Fargo bank scandal has rekindled debates about breaking up banks that are too big to fail, too big to manage or too big to comply.
Echoing the debate between Louis Brandeis and Teddy Roosevelt in the Progressive …
Financial regulation after the Dodd-Frank Act was enacted in 2010 has produced a blizzard of acronyms, many of which revolve around the basic “too big to fail” problem. OLA, OLF, SPOE, and TLAC are new regulatory tools that seek to …
The high-risk business model of large financial conglomerates (frequently called “universal banks”) was an important cause of the financial crisis. Universal banks rely on cheap funding from deposits and shadow banking liabilities to finance their speculative activities in the capital …
The release last week of public summaries of the resolution plans submitted by the 12 largest financial institutions operating in the US reveal more insight into the institutions’ resolution strategies than ever before, including the strategy for each of their …
Since AIG’s bailout in September 2008, the role of large, complex insurance firms in the global financial system has received much attention. Concern about the global operations, interconnectedness, and non-traditional activities of these large firms prompted the Financial Stability Board …
The AIG decision (actually, Starr International Co. v. The United States[1]) has shocked many but for the wrong reason. Some commentators have focused on the ingratitude of Maurice Greenberg, AIG’s former CEO and the “architect” of its international …
The 2007-2009 financial crisis was a watershed event that shook the confidence of people around the globe in the stability of the international financial system. The crisis demonstrated a failure of market discipline and the government responses only exacerbated this …
Thank you, Hal [Scott], for that kind introduction. I apologize for not being able to address you in person. Back in 2013, I opened a speech to the American Academy in Berlin with a bit of German.[1] While I …