Big Banks Dominate Meetings with Regulators; Reform Groups Left in the Waiting Room

 Big Banks Dominate Meetings with Regulators; Reform Groups Left in the Waiting Room
Monday, July 23, 2012

Banking representatives have dominated meetings with federal regulators charged with implementing the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, leaving reform advocates with considerably less time to make their case.

Large banks and financial industry associations have 1,298 times with regulators at the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) since the bill’s passage in July 2010, according to the Sunlight Foundation. On the other hand, reformists met with regulators 242 times over the past two years.

Goldman Sachs led the pack with 181 meetings, followed by JPMorgan Chase at 175, Morgan Stanley with 150, and Bank of America at 122. By comparison, the consumer group that was most successful at gaining facetime with federal regulators, the Consumer Federation of America, managed just 34 meetings with federal officials. Americans for Financial Reform was granted 32 meetings.

Most of Goldman Sachs’ meetings were with officials at the CFTC, while JPMorgan was more likely to meet officials of the Federal Reserve.

From the point of view of the government, the most common topics of conversation at meetings with the CFTC were Swap Execution Facility (SEF) registration and position limits—the number of options or future contracts an investor can hold of a single security investment. The most frequent topics of discussion with the Federal Reserve were interchange fees (usually the fees charged by banks to merchants who accept credit cards) and derivatives markets and their products. Meetings with the Treasury Department were dominated by discussion two newly created entities, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Office of Financial Research.

Agencies responsible for implementing more than 350 mandates contained in Dodd-Frank have “lagged behind deadlines” for completing new rules, according to the Sunlight Foundation.

-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Big Banks Dominate Dodd-Frank Meetings With Regulators (by Lee Drutman, Sunlight Foundation)

Obama Administration Exempts 85% of Energy Derivatives Traders from Regulation (by David Wallechinsky and Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Source:  AllGov - News - Big Banks Dominate Meetings with Regulators; Reform Groups Left in the Waiting Room