The question above, about the definition and scope of large bank regulation, may seem a bit wonk-ish. Unless you happen to be a large bank officer or director -- or a bank regulator – or maybe a bank client -- or a bank’s auditor or other gate-keeper.
Welcoming all readers to a new year that promises to be full of challenges, this topic kicks off 2017.
I am pleased to pose the question as co-author with Bill Kring, senior academic researcher at Boston University’s Center for Finance, Law & Policy, at today’s blog BankThink, published by The American Banker and dealing with ideas, trends and other developments in financial services:
“Efforts to mitigate the impact of systemically important nonbanks on the global economy have largely omitted a sector deeply entangled with financial institutions across the capital markets: the big accounting firms.
“The Financial Stability Oversight Council (is) mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act to designate ‘systemically important financial institutions’ for bank-like regulation….
“While FSOC’s future authority is somewhat in doubt as President-elect Trump sets to take office and the GOP has maintained control of both chambers of Congress, the work of regulators to contain systemic risks is no less important. And they should turn their attention to the ‘Big Four’ auditors that, despite being nothing like a bank or a broker-dealer, provide the audit opinions legally-mandated for all of the SIFI-designated institutions (emphasis added).
(For the entire piece, please see BankThink for January 9, 2017.)
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