Robert Oak's blog

What Next on Financial Reform?

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Since the Financial Reform bill passed the Senate, it will now go to conference committee to resolve the differences between the House and Senate versions. The New York Times has a graphic on the two bills, describing some of the differences and what is not in either version of the legislation, spreadsheet style.

Currently we do not know who the conferees are. They will be determined on Monday. Senator Kaufman:

The final Wall Street reform bill can't drift too far from the version passed Thursday night by the Senate, Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) warned Friday.

While there is no certainty in how conferees from the House and Senate might address differences between their two bills, Kaufman said, substantial changes could endanger the 60-vote majority needed to pass the bill in the upper chamber.

"There isn't a lot of wiggle room in the conference, in terms of changing what's in the Senate bill," Kaufman said Friday morning on CNBC.

An Update on Financial Reform Legislative Shenanigans

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Update: The bill passed, 59-39. Next stop will be the conference committee, where a manager's amendment along with other modifications are possible.

Update: Republicans blocked the Merkley-Levin amendment. The amendment which would have stopped proprietary trading with taxpayers, account holders money. Nasdaq News:

Two of the most anxiously awaited amendments to the U.S. Senate's financial-overhaul bill will not get votes after Republicans maneuvered to kill a controversial plan to sharply curb a lucrative Wall Street trading business.

As the endgame on the bill drew close, Republican leaders convinced U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback (R., Kan.) to withdraw his hot-button amendment that would have excluded auto dealers from oversight by the new consumer watchdog created by the bill.

Brownback's move effectively squashed a second, contentious amendment that had been attached, for strategic reason, to the Brownback amendment. The second amendment--hotly opposed by Wall Street--would have banned most banks from using their own capital to make market bets, so-called proprietary trading.

Beware of the Manager's Amendment

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Beware of the Manager's amendment! Today it was announced Senators Chris Dodd and Richard Shelby are putting a manager's amendment into the Financial Reform bill currently before Congress.

Manager's amendments are notorious. They are often massive, no one gets to read them before a vote. Literally they can gut the very bill being crafted and voted on for months in a matter of seconds.

According to the Huffington Post, a number one corporate lobbyists' priority is being considered for the manager's amendment.

Senator Dodd seems lukewarm at best on the question of state authority and has refused to rule out including a version of Carper in his manager's amendment

The Carper amendment would block states from enforcing consumer protection laws.

To introduce a massive bill, under the guise of a manger's amendment, at the last minute, which no one has read, is common. When the financial reform bill was passed out of committee, Chris Dodd introduced a manger's amendment then, at the last minute.

House Financial Services Committee Chair Barney Frank did the same thing.

Derivatives, derivatives, derivatives!

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Over and over again, we discover, upon some obscure audit or forensic accounting report being published, derivatives were the real culprit behind some bank/credit union/country failing.

Now we have Greece considering suing U.S. banks over credit default swaps on their sovereign debt and other derivatives.

Greece is considering taking legal action against U.S. investment banks that might have contributed to the country’s debt crisis, Prime Minister George Papandreou said.

“I wouldn’t rule out that this may be a recourse,” Papandreou said.

While this interview is making headlines buzz, to read the details of why Greece would consider suing U.S. banks click here and here

What a surprise, having a vehicle that pays out hansomely if a nation defaults on their debt might create some shady dealings. Bloomberg:

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said May 6 that he was concerned about speculation in bond markets using credit default swaps. “By first buying the CDS and then trying to affect market sentiment by going short on the underlying bond, investors can make large profits,” he said.

Europe Does a TARP Redux of almost $1 trillion dollars

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Europe is putting up a $952 billion loan package.

European policy makers unveiled an unprecedented loan package worth almost $1 trillion and a program of bond purchases as they spearheaded a global drive to stop a sovereign-debt crisis that threatened to shatter confidence in the euro.

Jolted into action by last week’s slide in the currency and soaring bond yields in Portugal and Spain, the 16 euro nations agreed to offer financial assistance worth as much as 750 billion euros ($962 billion) to countries under attack from speculators. The European Central Bank will counter “severe tensions” in “certain” markets by purchasing government and private debt.

So, instead of bailing out banks, this sounds similar to TARP except it is to bail out European countries.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is opening up currency swaps to loan to foreign central banks. From their press release:

Press Release
Federal Reserve Press Release

Release Date: May 9, 2010
For release at 9:15 p.m. EDT

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