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| April 2013
Boston Fed Chief Rosengren Calls For Crackdown on Broker-Dealers
Boston Herald, April 17, 2013. All Rights Reserved.
But Rosengren said tougher regulations have not been applied to money market mutual funds and broker-dealers, whose failure was at the center of the financial crisis.
Specifically citing the failure of prominent broker-dealers Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers at “critical junctures during the crisis,” Rosengren said: “Despite the central role that broker-dealers played in exacerbating the crisis, too little has changed to avoid a repeat of the problem, I am sorry to say. In short, I firmly believe that a reexamination of the solvency risks of large broker-dealers is warranted.”
Because little has changed with regard to broker-dealers, Rosengren direly concluded: “The status quo represents an ongoing and significant financial stability risk.”
To remedy the situation, he suggested: “In my view, then, consideration should be given to whether broker-dealers should be required to hold significantly more capital than depository institutions, which have deposit insurance and pre-ordained access to the central bank’s Discount Window.”
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren called for more regulation of broker-dealers and money market mutual funds in a speech at a New York conference today, but he began his remarks by acknowledging the victims of Monday’s Marathon attack.
“I want to take a moment to acknowledge that I join you from a community in Boston that on Monday endured a terrible and profoundly cruel tragedy at the Marathon,” Rosengren told the audience at the 22nd annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference on the State of the U.S. and World Economies. “My thoughts are with the many people who were wounded, with those — including Boston Fed staff — who were uninjured but at the scene, and most of all with the families and friends of those whose lives were lost.”
Rosengren told conference-goers that maintaining financial stability has been a key focus since the mortgage meltdown.
“I want to take a moment to acknowledge that I join you from a community in Boston that on Monday endured a terrible and profoundly cruel tragedy at the Marathon,” Rosengren told the audience at the 22nd annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference on the State of the U.S. and World Economies. “My thoughts are with the many people who were wounded, with those — including Boston Fed staff — who were uninjured but at the scene, and most of all with the families and friends of those whose lives were lost.”
Rosengren told conference-goers that maintaining financial stability has been a key focus since the mortgage meltdown.
“The financial crisis of 2008 and its aftermath have significantly increased the attention policymakers devote to financial stability issues. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the Dodd-Frank Act) and a variety of new bank regulatory initiatives, including the Basel III capital accord, are intended to reduce the risk of similar problems in the future,” the Boston Fed chief said. “For commercial banks, the policy changes stemming from the crisis have been increases in bank capital, stress tests to ensure capital is sufficient to weather serious problems, increased attention to liquidity and new measures intended to improve the resolution of large systemically important commercial banks.”
But Rosengren said tougher regulations have not been applied to money market mutual funds and broker-dealers, whose failure was at the center of the financial crisis.
Specifically citing the failure of prominent broker-dealers Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers at “critical junctures during the crisis,” Rosengren said: “Despite the central role that broker-dealers played in exacerbating the crisis, too little has changed to avoid a repeat of the problem, I am sorry to say. In short, I firmly believe that a reexamination of the solvency risks of large broker-dealers is warranted.”
Because little has changed with regard to broker-dealers, Rosengren direly concluded: “The status quo represents an ongoing and significant financial stability risk.”
To remedy the situation, he suggested: “In my view, then, consideration should be given to whether broker-dealers should be required to hold significantly more capital than depository institutions, which have deposit insurance and pre-ordained access to the central bank’s Discount Window.”
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