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Consumer protection seems to be topic number one among financial regulators following release of President Obama's plan for overhauling financial industry regulation last week. One of the most contentious provisions of his plan is likely to be the proposed creation of a new agency dedicated to protecting consumers from undue risk and harm from financial products. Most of the financial services industry opposed the idea. The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday examining ways to enhance consumer financial products regulation. The topic also is likely to come up when Herb Allison, the newly confirmed assistant secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability, appears before the Congressional Oversight Panel of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which Allison oversees. The oversight panel is chaired by Elizabeth Warren, who originally pushed for a consumer products safety commission. Monday the FDIC announced the appointment of Ellen Lazar to the new position of senior adviser for consumer policy to FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair. Lazar will advise Bair on the FDIC's consumer policy and programs. Lazar was a partner at Venture Philanthropy Partners, an organization that invests in nonprofit institutions. She previously served as senior vice president for housing and community initiatives at the Fannie Mae Foundation where she was responsible for grant-making and management of the foundation's national, regional and D.C. offices. Lazar is a graduate of Queens College of the City University of New York and of the Indiana University School of Law at Bloomington. Said Bair: "Ms. Lazar's long and distinguished career has been focused on community development and consumer protection. Her expertise and experience in these areas will contribute significantly to the FDIC's consumer programs and policy development." Maybe the timing is coincidental, but also Monday the Federal Reserve Board announced actions opened its nomination process for annual appointments to its Consumer Advisory Council. The council advises the board on its responsibility for enforcing various consumer financial services laws and meets in Washington three times a year. Ten new members will be appointed to serve three-year terms beginning in January. Nomination letters, including a résumé for each nominee, must be received by Aug. 28. The council's current chair is Edna Sawady of Orange, Ohio. Sawady is managing director of the under-banked practice at Market Innovations Inc., a niche consulting firm based in Boston. Before joining MII, Sawady worked at Cleveland-based KeyCorp, most recently as an executive focused on developing clients among low- and moderate-income and ethnic segments of the population. - Bill McConnell See story about financial regulation reform from The Deal magazine
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From: fran quittel,
I think Barney Frank and President Obama should first include IndyMac depositors on the list of people to contact regarding the performance of the FDIC which has held IndyMac's depositors responsible for the paperwork and assurances distributed by the Bank while the FDIC and OTS together watched the bank decline from 2005 forward doing NOTHING. This is reported by the OTS itself in the OTS OIG report OIG-09-032 released 2-26-09. This government produced report documents the failure of the FDIC and OTS to act three full years in advance of IndyMac's takeover by the FDIC leaving 10,000 bank depositors [neither investors nor shareholders nor mortgage holders] relieved of $240 million of their SAVINGS and business funds. Unfortuantely, it would take an act of God for Ellen Lazar to make that right . . .
Posted on:
June 23, 2009 12:58 PM
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This is really bad news for American Consumers. The Alphabet Soup regulators have all bowed to Obama and agreed on the need for this agency (We should all be asking, then what is the need for those agencies?)
Will another government agency help or hurt consumers? It was Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (government backed entities) that caused the mortgage meltdown.
This agency will do little but remove incentive from the market for people to lend money. Borrowers will not be able to get the money the need to get a home or start a business. Be careful what you wish for!