Published Opeds on Financial Reform: April 2010 Archives

by Thomas Cooley

New measurements identify the institutions that pose the greatest risk.

We are now well past the worst throes of the financial crisis. Banks and financial institutions are earning record profits. The economy is recovering steadily. All is right with the world! Wishful thinking. The uproar over the fraud charges against Goldman Sachs last week should have underscored that we still haven't addressed the underlying sources of the risk that caused our financial collapse in 2007-2009.

In the wake of the charges the value of Goldman's stock plummeted and brought the shares of other banks down with it. It was an ominous sign that the markets realize there is still plenty of systemic risk in our banking system.

A group of my colleagues at the NYU Stern School of Business have been working since the beginning of the crisis to figure out how we can measure the risk that firms pose for the financial system as a whole. There are two parts to the risk that firms carry: 1) the risk they impose for their own shareholders because of the strategies they use to earn profits; and 2) the risk they create that spills over to the system as a whole if they get into trouble. We now have measures of that risk. The measures are updated weekly and viewable online.

Read the full opinion editorial at Forbes.com.

by Thomas Cooley

How President Obama's consumer-protection plan threatens his plan to rein in Wall Street excess.

In the early proposals from the Senate Banking Committee, the creation of an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) was a centerpiece of the proposed Restoring American Financial Stability Act.  The CFPA has drawn such fierce opposition that it is threatening to become like the public option was for health-care reform, a lightening rod for competing views about the proper role of government and a distraction to practical law-making. The media attention and financial-market reaction to the accusations that Goldman Sachs deceived investors about the nature of the synthetic collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) make one thing very clear: we need more transparency in financial markets. We have to get financial reform right so we mitigate the risk of future meltdowns of the system. The outrage over this case seemingly strengthens the hand of the Obama administration in getting the legislation it wants. In his speech to Wall Street on Thursday, President Obama stated, "It is essential that we learn the lessons of this crisis so we don't doom ourselves to repeat it. And make no mistake, that is exactly what will happen if we allow this moment to pass--an outcome that is unacceptable to me and to the American people." Fair enough. But it is surprising that they have courted failure by lumping regulatory reform together with consumer protection.

Read the full opinion editorial at Newsweek.com.

by Yakov Amihud and Ingo Walter

During the recent credit crisis, U.S. banks in urgent need of capital quickly received
bailout funds from a government fearful of a systemic collapse.

As a way of avoiding the next financial debacle and the consequent socialization of losses, banks should be required to avoid becoming undercapitalized in the first place.

Before providing banks with public funds and putting the taxpayer at risk, the government should require that troubled lenders help themselves by raising capital from their own stockholders through coercive rights.

Read the full opinion editorial at Bloomberg.com.

by Kermit Schoenholtz and Paul Wachtel

The Federal Reserve in 2008 and 2009 took many unprecedented actions that helped halt the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. Yet never has the Fed provoked as much scorn and resentment as it did when it bailed out the creditors of Bear Stearns and AIG. The resulting wave of dissatisfaction fostered the greatest effort to weaken the Fed since its establishment nearly a century ago.

For our full op-ed on Forbes.com, go to http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/01/federal-reserve-independence-financial-crisis-opinions-contributors-paul-wachtel-kermit-schoenholtz.html