Well, isn't this a fine kettle of fish. A year after the bankers, with their greed and excessive speculation, took world economies to the brink of chaos, they are complaining that regulating them is not a good idea.

Josef Ackermann, chairman of the Institute of International Finance, said: "There's a trade off between maximizing stability of banks and optimizing growth of the real economy."

Continue reading Big surprise: Bankers oppose regulation

Big surprise: Bankers oppose regulation originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 04 Oct 2009 09:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank has a new proposal to regulate bank transactions. Some of it is OK and some of it perpetuates the abuses that brought Lehman and other financial institutions to their knees.

First the OK part. Frank's proposal would require over-the-counter derivatives to be traded on listed exchanges and sold on exchanges or processed through a regulation platform. This is not good enough. We need transparency for each and every trade done by each and every financial institution. That means that all trades must be done on a listed exchange and cleared through a clearinghouse. All of this data can be put on computers and monitored daily. Then if some trader goes beyond established guidelines, he will be shut down immediately.

Continue reading Barney Frank's plan for regulating derivatives comes up short

Barney Frank's plan for regulating derivatives comes up short originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hat's off to the Brits. Britain is the first country to adopt rules for bank bonuses.

What are these rules? Following a five month consultative period the Financial Services Authority published its final code which is effective January 2010. The codes are very simple and straightforward. They say that bank bonuses can be guaranteed for only one year and not be several times a banker's salary.

The regulator backed away from a proposal that would have required banks to defer bonuses over several years.

Continue reading Britain is the first country to adopt rules for bank bonuses. Is Wall Street next?

Britain is the first country to adopt rules for bank bonuses. Is Wall Street next? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.