Memo to Barney Frank: Four steps to fix finance

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Tonight I am appearing on a Boston TV program to discuss whether there are other Madoff disasters lurking as well as eight lessons from 2008. The first half of the program will feature Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) who chairs the House Financial Services Committee.

The TV producer suggested that I should give Congressman Frank some thoughts about how to fix the financial services industry if I get a chance to talk with him in the green room before the show starts. I am not sure whether I will get to do this or not; however, here are four ideas I will share if I get the chance:

  • Limit leverage. Starting with an SEC ruling in 2004, banks could borrow as much as they wanted -- in some cases over $30 for every $1 of equity. This borrowing has endangered the global financial system. Washington should limit leverage to 8:1 or less.
  • Put banker pay in escrow. As I posted, banks should not pay bankers to close big deals and then let them keep the bonuses after the deals fall apart. Instead, they should do what Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is starting to do, which is to put the bonuses in an escrow account -- if the deals lose money in the years following the contract signing, the money goes to pay off the investors. Otherwise, they get to keep the money.


  • Demand independent financial reporting. As I posted, we could prevent much financial fraud by creating an independent group of people who produce financial statements for companies and investment funds. This group would consist of talented and motivated auditors who were paid by the government and were financially independent of the organizations they audit.
  • End securitization. The practice of buying, credit-rating, and packaging loans into securities is a disaster. The result is securities that are so complex that nobody can put a value on them. The same is true for another branch of finance -- credit default swaps. These practices should be banned because they bet the entire global financial system on computer models that inevitably fail to predict the future catastrophe they cause.

I have one more idea which is probably beyond Washington's power to influence: As long as the smartest people in the world flock to Wall Street for the biggest bucks, the rest of society will continue to be at the mercy of the finance industry. If we could find a way to channel that talent to higher causes -- such as making the U.S. energy independent -- that would be great.

If you want to add anything to the list of thoughts for Congressman Frank, please comment below.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College. Portfolio published his eighth book, You Can't Order Change: Lessons From Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing, on December 26, 2008.

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Last updated: February 10, 2010: 12:57 AM

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