WASHINGTON – Stronger regulation of financial institutions won't stifle innovation but will lessen the chances for abuse, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said today.
"We have the responsibility to come up with rules that allow free enterprise to flourish and minimize abuses," Frank said at a speech at the National Press Club.
He said that part of the regulatory reform agenda, an agency to regulate consumer financial products, should be welcomed by depository institutions because it will target those industries that caused the financial crisis and weren't regulated.
Recommended For You
Frank said the new agency is needed because regulation is currently decentralized and this will bring regulatory power into one place.
He also said that while he favors expansion of the Community Reinvestment Act, it is "utter nonsense" to blame loans made by banks as required by the law for the financial crisis.
He criticized credit unions and banks for working to defeat a measure that would have allowed judges to rewrite the terms of mortgages and said there needs to be more efforts made to reduce home foreclosures.
Frank also predicted that Congress would pass a regulatory reform package before the end of the year.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
