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| The Obama administration has plans to overhaul the U.S. regulatory system — including forcing mortgage originators to maintain at least some interest in securitized loans. Meanwhile, 27 federally regulated financial institutions recently faced cease-and-desist orders.
In an op-ed piece published in the Washington Post today, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and President Obama’s economic advisor Lawrence Summers wrote that the current financial crisis is the product of basic failures in financial supervision and regulation. Regulatory gaps and outdated policies has lagged the growth of financial markets.
The administration plans to unveil a regulatory overhaul plan this week in an effort to create a regulatory regime that is more stable, flexible and effective. The proposed regulatory system would raise capital and liquidity requirements for all institutions — though the largest and most interconnected firms would face even more stringent requirements. It would also increase disclosure on asset- and mortgage-backed securities, reduce reliance on credit rating agencies and force originators to maintain some liability in securitized loans. In addition a stronger framework will be create for consumer and investor protection, and a simpler process will be established to manage the receivership of systemic institutions. But Republicans have their own plan that they say will stop rewarding failure, prevent taxpayer liability for bad Wall Street bets while some creditors and counterparties of failed firms are made whole, and restore market discipline. The GOP plans to oppose a systemic regulator to oversee jumbo institutions. “Republicans support scaling back the fed’s authorities so that it can focus on conducting monetary policy and unwinding the trillions of dollars in obligations it has amassed during the financial crisis,” an overview of the Republican’s plan distributed by Canfield and Associates said. “When combined with the Obama administration’s reckless ‘borrow-and-spend’ fiscal policy, the vast expansion of the fed’s balance sheet in recent months arguably represents a far more significant source of ‘systemic risk’ to our nation’s economy than the failure of any specific financial institution.” The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation reported that it processed 57 regulatory during April — including 24 cease-and-desist orders, five removal and prohibitions, 17 civil money penalties and seven orders terminating orders to cease and desist. Among the recipients of recent FDIC’s cease-and-desist orders was Colonial BancGroup Inc., which said it entered a Stipulation and Consent agreeing to the issuance of the order to cease and desist with the FDIC and the Alabama State Banking Department. The order calls for increased capital levels, a reduction in bad assets and a reduced concentration of credit. A group of investors led by Taylor, Bean & Whitaker plans to make a $300 million equity investment in Colonial in exchange for a 75 percent interest in the Montgomery, Ala.-based firm. The FDIC also issued cease-and-desist orders against the following institutions.
The FDIC said it issued removal-and-prohibition orders against the following individuals.
Civil money penalties were issued by the FDIC against the following institutions.
Cease-and-desist orders against the following banks were terminated by the FDIC.
The Federal Reserve Board and the State of Alabama State Banking Department issued a cease-and-desist order (Docket No. 09-062-B-HC.) against Nexity Financial Corp., in Birmingham, Ala., on June 9. Neighborhood Community Bank in Newnan, Ga., faced a May 27 prompt corrective action directive (Docket No. 09-058-PCA-SM.) The fed also entered written agreements with the following banks. Written agreements often require the banks to conserve capital, improve lending procedures and replace management.
On June 5, the fed terminated an April 21, 2006, written agreement with Bank of New York, while a June 30, 2005, written agreement with First Citizens Bank of Butte, in Butte, Mont., was terminated on May 28. An adjudicated decision and order issue by the FDIC against interState Net Bank prohibits further participation by Hal J. Shaffer — who also faced a $50,000 civil money penalty. (order numbers FDIC-06-201e and FDIC-06-202k) The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a cease-and-desist order (EA-EC-2009-16) against Citizens National Bank of Springfield, in Springfield, Mo., on April 7. |
