JAMES HENRY, jamesshelburnehenry@
Henry is Global Justice Fellow at Yale University and managing director at the Sag Harbor Group. He just wrote the piece “So Silicon Valley Wants A Bailout?” He noted in a tweet that “#Signature was a premier NYC bank w Barney Frank on its board+ crypto/US$ exchange deals w Binance.”
RootsAction just put out an action alert: “Tell Senators to Apologize for Rigging the Rules for Reckless Banks.”
RENITA MARCELLIN, via Carter Dougherty, carter@o
Americans for Financial Reform states: “The swift demise of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and the actions taken by the federal regulators over the weekend underscore the folly of the partial rollback of the Dodd-Frank law in 2018 and the need, looking forward, for strict oversight of large banks and the entirety of the financial system.”
Marcellin, the advocacy and legislative director for the group states: “Rolling back common-sense safeguards to ensure banks were liquid enough to pay their depositors was clearly the wrong decision. These banks would have faced a tougher risk management framework under the original Dodd-Frank law. But bipartisan majorities in Congress weakened the law in 2018 and Trump-appointed regulators took it even further.”
The group adds: “Congress should repeal the 2018 legislation, and take up additional measures to protect financial stability and the public interest. But regulators should not wait; they can take steps now to make the system more stable while protecting consumers and investors. They should strengthen bank capital and liquidity rules and make use of the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Office of Financial Research to identify emerging risks, designate firms as systemically important, and properly regulate both banks and non-banks. They should also implement the Dodd-Frank mandate to limit executive compensation.” Dougherty is communications director for the group.
