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Government Relations Recaps Obama White Paper, Its Prospects June 24, 2009 By Morgan Stanley Goverment Relations | The Obama Administration released on June 17 an 89-page white paper titled "Financial Regulatory Reform: A New Foundation" that details its plan for financial-services regulatory reform. "We must act now to restore confidence in the integrity of our financial system," the paper notes. "The lasting economic damage to ordinary families and businesses is a constant reminder of the urgent need to act to reform our financial regulatory system and put our economy on track to a sustainable recovery. We must build a new foundation for financial regulation and supervision that is simpler and more effectively enforced, that protects consumers and investors, that rewards innovation and that is able to adapt and evolve with changes in the financial market." To help assess the impact of what the white paper outlines, Government Relations issued "President Obama's Plan for Regulatory Reform: Summary and Analysis." Topics covered in the six-page review include:
"Taken as a whole, the Obama plan seeks to expand the role of the Federal Reserve in overseeing all systemically important institutions and identifying new risks within the financial system, while heightening the focus of and cooperation between the federal financial regulators and the newly proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency by creating a Financial Services Oversight Council that is intended to monitor systemic risks and keep the newly expanded power of the Fed in check," said Michael Stein, Head of Government Relations. "The debate on Capitol Hill is going to be intense over the coming months as the Congress, faced with a numerous array of interested constituencies, attempts to turn the Obama Plan, or possibly parts of it, into law by the end of the year." |