RSS feedPaul Volcker
’Volcker speaks, but knows when to shut up
As almost every banker around the world knows, Paul Volcker is living proof that, long past an ex-Fed chairman’s usual sell-by date, an octagenarian banker can maintain his relevancy.
In a series of speeches in London on Thursday,
The Dodd bill has an is-ought problem
A what-ought problem? An is-ought problem.
Senator Chris Dodd’s gigantic financial reform bill is starting to attract a bit of nerd rage for giving regulators power to regulate — but not the requirement to use it.
Fed bank supervision: the case for the defence
Ben Bernanke’s prepared testimony for his appearance before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday makes a case for the continued independence of the Federal Reserve, at least as far as bank regulation is concerned.
Why Wall Street should have seen the Volcker rule coming
When the so-called Volcker Rule was proposed back in January, the market reaction ranged from wildly opposed to just as strongly in favour.
The one consistent emotion, as the FT pointed out at the time,
People familiar with the lobbying effort…
Out of the blue this one: the Volcker rule, whereby banks in the US would be banned from proprietary trading, is going to be replaced by a simple requirement that banks hold more capital. Apparently.
From the New York Post,
Volcker turns the screw on Goldman
One of the more beguiling aspects of the detail-lite Volcker rule, as unveiled by President Obama late last month, was the notion that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley could side-step all of the more draconian aspects of this regulatory clampdown by simply tearing up their puny deposit-taking licenses.
The Obama-Volcker remarks in full
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
SUBJECT: ADDITIONAL REFORMS TO THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM
THE DIPLOMATIC RECEPTION ROOM, THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D.C.
11:39 A.M. EST, THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2010
PRESIDENT OBAMA:
Volcker: ‘Think about it!’ (UPDATED: ‘Do you want me to eat it?’)
Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, was due to address the House Banking and Financial Services Committee in Washington on Thursday morning.
If his prepared testimony is anything to go by,
Sympathy for the money market funds
What’s this? Obama’s economic adviser and former Fed chairman Paul Volcker wants to regulate money market funds like banks.
Via Bloomberg:
Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) — Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman who is an adviser to President Barack Obama,
Dear Paul, the greatest monetary crisis of all times is coming
Gold-bug academic extraordinaire Antal Fekete is worried about the world economy. He’s so worried in fact he’s posted an open letter to former Federal reserve chairman Paul Volcker on his website calling for imminent intervention:
That’s nice Timmy, but we’ve got a few suggestions…
Apparently, the Goldmanati are concerned.
For starters, the new Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, never worked at The Firm. For a second, he’s not exactly got the confidence of the markets at the moment.
The financial system is broken – but we won’t tell you how to fix it
Paul Volcker and the Group of 30 are none to0 impressed with banks, hedge funds, private equity, regulators, central banks, ratings agencies…you get the picture.
Why? Because as Arminio Fraga Neto put it at a press conference on Thursday,
Obama taps Volcker to head new panel
Barack Obama announced Wednesday the appointment of Paul Volcker, former Fed chairman, to head an economic recovery advisory board that would act as a new tier of independent advisers to assist him in tackling the economic crisis.