Geithner Previews Regulatory Overhaul Plans

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers, director of the National Economic Council, gave a preview June 15 of the Obama Administration’s financial services reform proposal in a Op-Ed piece for The Washington Post.

In the OpEd, Geithner and Summers write that the Administration’s goal “is to create a more stable regulatory regime that is flexible and effective; that is able to secure the benefits of financial innovation while guarding the system against its own excess.”

The Obama plan focuses on five key areas, Geithner and Summers say. The proposal will raise capital and liquidity requirements for all institutions, they say, with “more stringent requirements for the largest and most interconnected firms.” Second, the Administration’s plan will “impose robust reporting requirements on the issuers of asset-backed securities; reduce investors’ and regulators’ reliance on credit-rating agencies; and, perhaps most significant, require the originator, sponsor, or broker of a securitization to retain a financial interest in its performance.” Harmonizing the regulation of securities and futures will also be sought.