FINANCIAL TIMES: ….. Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, told the Financial Times: “I think [for] the very largest ones we will need to see some structural changes. I’d like to get some public comment on the idea that if you have an investment banking affiliate . . . that [should be] on standalone liquidity and capital.”
She warned that regulators now had the authority to demand that US banks break themselves into smaller parts – and it “could and should be used”. Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, which combine retail and investment banks, could be affected.
Ms Bair is in her last few weeks as head of the powerful bank regulator and is making a final push to end the “too big to fail” syndrome by reaching international agreements on how to wind up large financial groups and by pressing for further structural reform. … (more)
EDITOR: It often seems that government leaders only find the courage to endorse the right things as they exit from the scene.
