Tuesday, March 28, 2017

House Committee Hearing Examines SIFI Designation Process

Hears Testimony on FSOC's "Inconsistent and Arbitrary" SIFI Designation Process

Author: David Schwartz J.D. CPA

The House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee held a hearing on Tuesday, March 28, 2017  to examine the process used by the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) to designate systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs). The subcommittee heard testimony from a panel of witnesses about the designation process and about the House Financial Services Committee’s February 28, 2017 report criticizing the FSOC and what it termed its “inconsistent and arbitrary” SIFI designation process. 

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Thursday, March 2, 2017

Congressional Report Takes on FSOC "Too Big to Fail" Designations

"FSOC Designations of ‘Too Big to Fail’ Firms are Arbitrary and Inconsistent"

Author: David Schwartz J.D. CPA

The House Financial Services Committee (“House Committee”) issued a report on February 28, 2017 calling into question the process by which the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) designates certain non-bank companies as "too big to fail.” Based on subpoenaed documents requested by the House Committee and the sworn testimony of Treasury Department officials, the report concludes that the FSOC is "inconsistent and arbitrary" in exercising its power to designate certain nonbank companies as systemically important. The report echoes criticisms made by government watchdogs and courts of the FSOC's transparency and its nonbank SIFI designation process.  

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Monday, October 10, 2016

FSOC Wants Better Securities Lending and Repo Data

Author: David Schwartz J.D. CPA

In its 2016 annual report published in July, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) said that more and better data was needed to assess the potential systemic risks associated with securities lending and repo.  The super-regulator called for more transparency and better data collection from both lenders and borrowers in securities lending and repo markets. “Without comprehensive information on securities lending activities across the financial system,” the FSOC report said,"regulators cannot fully assess the severity of potential risks to financial stability in this area.” In addition, the FSOC recommended better coordination of data collection by U.S. regulators with their foreign counterparts, noting that “current estimates suggest that half of global securities lending activities take place outside of the United States.”  Better international cross-border data coordination is necessary because, "the extent to which particular market participants operate across national boundaries is not clear from available data, so it is difficult for regulators to determine how stresses in a foreign jurisdiction may affect securities lending activities in the United States."

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Thursday, April 21, 2016

FSOC Asks for Enhanced and Regular Data Collection for Securities Lending

Author: David Schwartz J.D. CPA

In their April 16, 2016 report, Review of Asset Management Products and Activities, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) requested that regulators make coordinated and permanent efforts to collect more data on securities lending. Noting that that current data collections do not provide regulators and policy makers with enough information to even know the size of the market for securities lending, the FSOC urged enhanced and regular data collection and reporting, as we all as interagency data sharing regarding securities lending activities.  

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Wednesday, March 30, 2016

GAO Finds U.S. Financial Regulatory Structure Fragmented and Inefficient

Recommends Action by Congress on Overlapping Regulations and the FSOC

Author: David Schwartz J.D. CPA

In a report released March 28, 2016, the GAO concluded that fragmented and overlapping oversight has created inefficiency in the U.S. financial market regulatory structure. The GAO recommended that Congress should consider taking steps to reduce or better manage fragmentation and overlap, and also determine whether legislative changes are needed to align Financial Stability Oversight Council's (FSOC) authorities with its mission to respond to systemic risks.

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