Barack Obama Set to Unveil New Financial Regulations

Regulatory overhaul of the U.S. financial system

In the finger pointing that has been going on since the global financial crisis hit, one of the main blame-takers of the current recession has been lax regulation that allowed the greedy to take advantage of the financial system at the expense of everyone else. For those who believe this way, new financial regulations are in order. And President Barack Obama is about to provide them. Here are some of the areas that Obama’s new regulations are expected to influence:

Comprehensive suprvising of financial markets, especially tighter regulation of securitization.
Providing the Federal Reserve with expanded powers to supervise financial firms that could pose a threat to financial stability.
Tougher international financial market standards.
Consumer protection with the creation of an agency designed to make sure consumers are protected in financial transactions.
New tools for crisis management.

While some of these regulations are welcome, there are some concerns amongst lawmakers of both political parties with regard to the expanded powers of the Federal Reserve, reports the Guardian:

By granting new powers to the Federal Reserve, the US government hopes to achieve stronger and more consistent oversight of America’s largest financial firms and avoid a repeat of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. But some politicians fear that the Fed could become too powerful and prove impossible to rein in.

"You can’t fire the chairman of the Federal Reserve," said Democrat congressman Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania.

It may be true that you can’t fire the chairman of the Federal Reserve now, but perhaps some new regulations could change that…