In the News
Until July, swaps dealers engaging in cross-border derivatives activities will be spared from enforcement of new rules so long as they are making a "good faith" effort to comply. The delay follows numerous others granted in recent weeks.
It does not seem like it would be difficult for regulators to block felons and other law-breakers from pitching private investment deals to unsophisticated customers, but nearly 20 months after proposing its "bad actor" rule, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is having trouble finalizing it.
More than a year after the legal deadline for finishing its work on the rule, the agency is stymied by internal disagreements, limited resources and a heavy workload.
"The pledge is not for life, but everybody who signed the pledge including Peter King, and tried to weasel out of it, shame on him," Norquist said on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight" on Monday, adding, "I hope his wife understands that commitments last a little longer than two years or something."
Rep. Maxine Waters, who will take over as top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee next year, is urging the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to delay implementation of certain derivatives rules set to go into effect Jan. 1.
The CFTC was mandated under Title 7 of the Dodd-Frank reform law to help overhaul the derivatives market following the financial crisis. But concern is growing over how and when some of the provisions are being implemented, including across national borders.
"We Democrats were pleased that we were able to protect the average American family in America. This was not difficult. We did not get everything. Yes we did kick [the can] down the road. There are spending cuts and some other things that have to be considered, but we did protect the American taxpayer and we made sure they didn't have a tax increase," Waters said on Jansing & Co.
The House is expected to vote as early as Thursday evening on a bill that would repeal the government's ability to seize and unwind large, failing financial institutions and eliminate a popular mortgage modification program.
The bill, which is designed to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff" — automatic spending cuts and tax hikes that will be triggered automatically next year unless a bill is passed — is the first time the GOP has tried to tie that issue with a rollback of the Dodd-Frank Act.
Leading Democrats are blasting Republican leaders for including a package of cuts alongside their backup tax plan that would eliminate major pieces of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) accused the GOP of trying to sneak the dismantling of the Wall Street overhaul through at the last minute as part of a broader series of spending cuts being considered as part of Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) "Plan B" tax plan.
The FCC continues to solicit comment from the public on media ownership and diversity, and Rep. Maxine Waters had a piece of her mind to give to the chairman.
In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski dated Wednesday, she said she was concerned with reports that the commission intended to "revive some form of the same lax media cross ownership rules that the Third Circuit Court invalidated in July 2011."
The House Democratic Caucus formally elected Rep. Maxine Waters Tuesday as ranking member for the House Financial Services Committee.
The California Democrat had been the presumed choice to take over the seat since her name was cleared in a long-running ethics investigation that concluded in September. She will succeed outgoing ranking member Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who is retiring.