At the Securities Industry and Financial Market Association's annual meeting in New York on Tuesday, SIFMA President and CEO T. Timothy Ryan Jr. put his support behind the Dodd-Frank reform act but scoffed at the Volcker Rule as unworkable.
Before a packed audience at the Marriott Marquis on Times Square, Ryan (left) noted that "no one can be happy with where reform stands," considering that political and bureaucratic constraints have produced a complex 2,300-page law that required 87 studies by regulators and will ultimately lead to an estimated 398 rules.
Yet Ryan conceded that reform is needed.
"These reforms are critical to restoring the trust and confidence that is so essential to our markets," he said in prepared remarks. "We have also been upfront in objecting to provisions that we believe are, at best, extraneous and unrelated to the financial crisis, such as the Volcker Rule. But, we have never supported a complete repeal of Dodd-Frank, and do not support repeal now."
Also on hand during the morning's presentations were SIFMA Board Chairman Chet Helck, who spoke about the emotional side of the beleaguered finance industry, and Gary S. Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, who spoke about the future of derivatives transparency.
Helck, who is also CEO of the Global Private Client Group at Raymond James Financial, noted that while policy changes are critically important, he wanted to talk about the feeling side of the business—namely, the advisor-client relationship.
"Feeling good about being in our business has been a challenge," Helck (right) said. "We know we do good, but does anybody else believe that?"
