As much as big data can tell us about how the big financial institutions that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis are dominating the rule writing for the Dodd-Frank law, our reporting has alerted us to the limitations of the data -- and to how important it is to watchdog.
Continue readingBig banks dominate Dodd-Frank meetings with regulators
This piece was prepared in collaboration with Drew Vogel In the two years since the mammoth Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act became law, federal regulators have heard overwhelmingly from the biggest banks, according to a new Sunlight Foundation analysis of financial regulatory agency meeting logs. The voices of reform-oriented groups have been much quieter – particularly in the past 12 months. Since July 21, 2010 (when the president signed Dodd-Frank), regulators at the three major banking regulatory agencies – Treasury, the Fed and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) – have reported meeting with 20 big banks and banking associations on average a combined 12.5 times per week – as compared to on average just 2.3 meetings with reform-oriented groups. The top 20 banks show up 1,298 times in meeting logs at the three agencies, while groups favoring tighter regulations of the financial markets show up just 242 times.
Continue readingMore JPMorgan meetings with Treasury on Volcker rule
JPMorgan executives, including CEO Jamie Dimon, attended several meetings at the Treasury Department last month to discuss the controversial Volcker rule and other matters related to the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, according to new meeting logs released by the agency Thursday.
In the weeks leading up to the bank's disclosure that it had lost at least $2 billion in the sort of hedging strategy that could come under question as agencies implement the Volcker ban on proprietary trading, JPMorgan executives attended three meetings at the agency, the logs show.
Two of those meetings, both on April 26 with Deputy ...
Continue readingJPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon met with Treasury Secretary on Volcker in March
Newly published meeting logs from the Treasury Department show that Jamie Dimon, CEO of embattled JPMorgan & Chase, had a private audience with Secretary Timothy Geithner to discuss the Volcker rule and other issues on March 6.
The logs also show that JPMorgan executives attended two other meetings that same month. Volcker was also on the table at another Treasury session the same day, this one a larger meeting with Deputy Assistant Secretary Lance Auer that also included representatives with other groups such as Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs.
The day before, JPMorgan representatives were also present at another group meeting ...
Continue readingTrying to track JPMorgan? Treasury Dodd-Frank meeting logs not up to date
Updated 4:22 p.m. The Treasury Department has now fixed the link to March meetings with outside groups concerning implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. A spokesman also just called to thank us for alerting the agency to the missed deadline.
Something curious happened after we contacted the Treasury Department press office Tuesday to inquire why it had missed the April deadline for releasing information about meetings with outside groups around implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law--meetings that often include financial heavyweights such as JPMorgan Chase & Company.
We did not get a response -- neither to our initial ...
Continue readingFutures industry nabs former government regulator as new leader
In the latest example of a former financial regulator finding employment in the industry, the Futures Industry Association (FIA) has announced that its new president will be a former leader at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Walter Lukken was nominated to the commission by former President George W. Bush and chaired the agency's global markets advisory committee while there. From 2007-2008, when the financial crisis was at its height, he served as its acting chairman. Lukken resigned when President Obama took office in 2009.
In his current role as chief executive officer for New York Portfolio Clearing, he ...
Continue readingMF Global pushed regulators to use client funds
Late last year MF Global—the failed investment firm headed by Democratic heavyweight Jon S. Corzine that can't account for as much as $900 million of its clients' money--urged a federal agency to allow futures firms to invest funds from their customer segregated accounts in foreign sovereign debt.
In a December 2010 comment letter to the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC), MF Global, along with another firm, Newedge, argued that the agency’s proposal to disallow such investments “is unnecessary, and will eliminate a liquid, secure, profitable and necessary category of investment....no foreign country that actually defaulted on ...
Continue readingBank executives plead case to administration officials over Volcker rule
Top executives with major banks met regularly with federal agency officials who were writing a draft rule meant to curtail risky Wall Street trading — known popularly as the Volcker rule, named for the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker — federal agency meeting records show.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler were among the agency leaders who met with CEOs from companies including Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Chase since June 2010. Big banks are strongly critical of a provision in the Dodd-Frank financial law that calls for restricting banks from trading for ...
Continue readingDodd Frank: How rating agencies contributed to the financial crisis
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, passed in response to the financial crisis of 2008, added new regulations and new regulators for some—but not all—of the institutions whose actions led to the crisis. Over the next several days, we’ll be taking a look at each of the major groups of contributors to the economic crisis, who the major players were, what political influence they brought to bear on Congress and regulators, how Dodd-Frank intends to regulate them, and, using our new Dodd-Frank Meeting Logs tool, what rules these groups are trying to influence as ...
Continue readingDodd-Frank: How investment banks contributed to the financial crisis
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, passed in response to the financial crisis of 2008, added new regulations and new regulators for some—but not all—of the institutions whose actions led to the crisis. Over the next several days, we’ll be taking a look at each of the major groups of contributors to the economic crisis, who the major players were, what political influence they brought to bear on Congress and regulators, how Dodd-Frank intends to regulate them, and, using our new Dodd-Frank Meeting Logs tool, what rules these groups are trying to influence as ...
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