US Economic News
8/4/2009 9:51 AM ET
(RTTNews) -
United States Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reportedly lashed out at financial regulators on Friday, telling them to stop voicing their concerns over the Obama Administration's proposed overhaul of the regulatory system.
At a meeting in the Treasury conference room Geithner apparently repeatedly used obscenities and told the regulators—including Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman Shelia Bair—"enough is enough."
According to the "Wall Street Journal," Geithner aggressively reminded the regulators that they do not create policy and aired his concerns about regulators, including Schapiro and Bair, who have questioned the Administration's plan to give the Fed more power in oversight of the financial system.
The proposed plan by the Administration would also create a new consumer financial protection agency, and would give the government power to take over and break up large financial companies, merge bank regulators and implement tougher oversight of mortgages.
The plan has been increasingly scrutinized and criticized by the financial industry and financial regulators since it was announced in June. Many regulators, including Schapiro and Bair, have said that they believe that regulatory authority should be shared among a group of regulators.
At the meeting, however, Geithner told those gathered that that the primary goal should be achieving reform, and that they should not let "turf battles" become a distraction from that goal.
Another point of dispute in the Administration's plan is the creation of a financial services oversight council to resolve disputes among regulators, and some have voiced concerns over how power would be balanced between the Fed and this new agency.
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com
|
|