STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 5 February 2013

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12. Trying their best to allow bankers to do their worst

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2013/0205/1224329656724.html


Like many advocates of financial reform, I was a bit disappointed in the Bill that finally emerged. Dodd-Frank gave regulators the power to rein in many financial excesses, but it was and is less clear that future regulators will use that power.

As history shows, the financial industry’s wealth and influence can all too easily turn those who are supposed to serve as watchdogs into lap dogs instead.

There was, however, one piece of the reform that was a shining example of how to do it right: the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a stand-alone agency with its own funding, charged with protecting consumers against financial fraud and abuse. And sure enough, Senate Republicans are going all out in an attempt to kill that bureau.

Why is consumer financial protection necessary? Because fraud and abuse happen.