See you in 2013, Congress.
That may as well be the financial lobby?s message to federal lawmakers this year as banks and investment houses acknowledge they?ve largely written off 2012 as lost for affecting major policy priorities such as undoing Wall Street reform or torpedoing the nascent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Continue ReadingThe punt is thanks in large part to a bitterly divided Congress that isn?t much interested in or able to push through most changes either sweeping or incremental. Something like passing the Dodd-Frank bill, or undoing it, for that matter, seems as unlikely today as it was possible just two years ago.
?Everyone in town is hiring a lot more lawyers than lobbyists,? said Richard Hunt, president of the Consumer Bankers Association. ?Anything we would like to get done will either be vetoed by the president or not get through the Senate. There?s nothing big going on in Congress.?
That doesn?t mean there isn?t government influence action afoot this year: Regulatory agencies, not Congress, are instead taking a more leading role.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, which is tasked with making rules for Wall Street reform legislation, is a prime example.
A flurry of action has also taken place early this year at the SEC, Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency surrounding the so-called Volcker rule, which puts limits on how banks may trade their own funds in an attempt to slow investments in potentially risky products, such as securities and derivatives.
In December, the government extended the period during which industry and public advocates could comment on the proposed framework for the limitations? implementation. That comment period ends this week after attracting significant attention.
Other less explosive agenda items, such as the disclosure ratio between chief executive and rank-and-file employee pay, also remain in the regulatory mix.
As for congressional lobbying, it?s hardly going away.
There are relatively minor legislative battles in the offing ? a transaction tax for financial firms and measures to strengthen cybersecurity are examples.
But two industry lobbyists likened activity there to a sports team in the midst of a rebuilding year in which the goal isn?t so much to win a championship as it is to build a foundation for future successes.
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