Treasury details new consumer agency, and banks cry foul

[babylonsister]

Treasury details new consumer agency, and banks cry foul

By Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers


WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Tuesday sent Congress a detailed plan to create one of the most ambitious parts of the president's proposed overhaul of financial regulation, a Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

The Treasury Department's proposal would gather consumer protection powers now spread among many bank regulators and place them under a single roof. If enacted, this would be a huge step by government into private banking after a hands-off approach for the past two decades.

President Barack Obama proposed this agency in response to the nation's deep financial crisis, which is largely rooted in shoddy mortgage lending practices that exploded in the first half of this decade thanks to regulatory gaps and weak enforcement of consumer protection rules.

The proposed legislation would give the new agency powers to set and enforce standards for things such as mortgage and credit card disclosure statements. For ordinary Americans, the most important feature is that the agency would have the sole mission of consumer protection. One lesson of the financial crisis is that several agencies shared that responsibility, but made it a lower priority than their other missions.

In a nod to concerns raised by financial institutions, the new agency would be required to weigh potential costs and benefits of any actions it might take before taking them, and to monitor how those actions work to ensure that they aren't proving burdensome to commercial activity.

Banks weren't happy about the proposal.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/71052.html

[kirby]

1. Fuck the banks n/t

[billyoc]

2. May they bleed foul as well.

[Tempest]

3. If the banks are against it

Then you know it's a good plan.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Now, if Paulsen will only come out against it,

then it's bound to be a magnificent plan.

[redqueen]

5. Aw, my heart bleeds.

:nopity:

[scheming daemons]

6. Yet another story indicating that the Obama administration is *NOT* DLC and *NOT* like Bush...

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Actually, this may not be a good idea.

It all depends on who the agency is accountable to, who runs it, and effective provisions for oversight.
And if any of Bush's laws/ Exec. orders are still standing and will hamstring any effectiveness.
Not enough details now to know if this is good.