Overview of Paulson’s Plan at A Glance
Before the official announcement this morning of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's blueprint to overhaul financial regulation, a 22-page summary was obtained by the AP. Here is an at-a-glance look at the proposed plans:
* Expand the role of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets to include the entire financial sector rather than just financial markets.
* Create a federal commission, the Mortgage Origination Commission, to develop uniform, minimum licensing standards for mortgage market participants.
* Close the Office of Thrift Supervision, which regulates thrift institutions, and move those functions to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates banks.
* Merge the functions of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission into the Securities and Exchange Commission to create one agency to provide unified oversight of the futures and securities industries.
* Establish an Office of National Insurance within the Treasury Department to regulate those in the insurance industry who want to operate under an optional federal charter.
* Work to establish as a long-term goal three major regulators: the Federal Reserve as a "market stability regulator"; a "prudential financial regulator" to take over the functions of five separate banking regulators; and a "business conduct regulator" to regulate business conduct and consumer protection.
The sweeping plan is already drawing intense criticism -- a debate unlikely to be settled until a new president takes office.
Source: Source: AP/CNBC | Published on March 21, 2008
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