http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/73afb084-0a8a-11df-ab4a-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1 King praises Obama over bank reform
By Megan Murphy http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/73afb084-0a8a-11df-ab4a-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1 Published: January 26 2010 15:23 | Last updated: January 26 2010 15:23 Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, on Tuesday praised Barack Obama, US president, for putting radical reform of the banking system <http://www.ft.com/indepth/obama-wall-street-reform>on the international agenda, while declining to endorse specifically the US proposals to curb riskier trading activities and investments. Speaking to the Treasury committee that is investigating how future banking crises might be prevented, Mr King repeatedly advocated taking a long-term approach towards regulation, warning that there was no one silver bullet that would solve the sectors problems. EDITORS CHOICE In depth: Obama and Wall Street<http://www.ft.com/indepth/obama-wall-street-reform>- Jan-26 Opinion: A better way to reduce financial sector risk<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/63a3bb52-09f1-11df-8b23-00144feabdc0.html>- Jan-25 Opinion: Bypass populism and tackle banking<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/619c30d2-09f1-11df-8b23-00144feabdc0.html>- Jan-25 Banks prepare for battle over US reforms<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/93bff400-0932-11df-ba88-00144feabdc0.html>- Jan-24 I think we can take our time on this debate on the long term structure of the system banks are not rushing out to take on more risks, Mr King said. The most important thing is that we are prepared to countenance major reform. Mr Kings comments may ease industry concerns that the UK will rush to propose similar restrictions on so-called proprietary trading where banks trade for their own profit, rather than their customers as well limit bank investments in private equity groups and hedge funds. Mr Obamas plan which, if adopted by Congress, would be the most dramatic overhaul of the US banking sector since the 1930s calls for banks to be banned from running their own trading desks and owning, investing in or sponsoring hedge funds and private equity groups. The proposals have so far failed to forge international political consensus<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/490eb688-0a1a-11df-8b23-00144feabdc0.html>as governments on both sides of the Atlantic pursue a disparate range of reforms. The UK government, in particular, has been cool on Mr Obamas proposals, preferring to push initiatives including living wills, which would enable the orderly wind-down of complex financial groups, and a global tax on financial transactions, referred to as the Tobin tax. Mr King, however, appeared to dismiss the viability of a transactions tax in his evidence on Tuesday, saying there was more international support for some sort of levy on bank balance sheets, as has been put forward in the US as a way to recoup the costs of bailing out the sector. While acknowledging the need for international co-operation, Mr King said governments must adopt a credible approach toward reform, identifying those changes that can be made over the next 12-18 months as well as those problems that will only be tackled over a much longer time span. Of all the components of radical reform, I think a Tobin tax is bottom of the list, said Mr King. Its not thought to be the answer to the too big to fail problem theres much more support for the idea of a US-type levy. Copyright <http://www.ft.com/servicestools/help/copyright> The Financial Times Limited 2010. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Ingin bergabung ke milis ekonomi-nasional? Kirim email ke ekonomi-nasional-subscr...@yahoogroups.com http://capresindonesia.wordpress.com http://infoindonesia.wordpress.comYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ekonomi-nasional/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ekonomi-nasional/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: ekonomi-nasional-dig...@yahoogroups.com ekonomi-nasional-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: ekonomi-nasional-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
