The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee held a hearing on “Reducing Risks and Improving Oversight in the Over-The-Counter (OTC) Credit Derivatives Market.” Chairman Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Ranking Member Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) oversaw the hearing. Both senators agreed that the OTC credit derivatives market poses many risks to different sectors of the U.S. economy, including the financial system. Reed said that regulators have been coordinating efforts since 2002 to reduce these risks, but have not made enough progress and have become “too complacent” in their efforts. (more…)

Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, introduced legislation to improve credit card billing, marketing and disclosure regulations and practices today at a press conference. The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (C.A.R.D.), is set to strengthen industry regulation and supervision, prevent increases in interest rates and terms, and prohibit exorbitant and unnecessary rates and fees, among other things.

Upon becoming chairman, Dodd put credit card companies “on notice” in 2007 and with this legislation is hoping to create “fairness and transparency for consumers.” Last year 700 million credit cards were given out that allocated about $9,000 of debt per household, due to, as Dodd said,“mostly excessive fees and exorbitant interest rates.” (more…)

Why did you bail out Bear Stearns? It was the resounding question heard over and over in the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on “Turmoil in U.S. Credit Markets: Examining the Recent Actions of Federal Financial Regulators.” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, United States Treasury Under Secretary Robert Steel, and President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Timothy F. Geithner, all attempted to answer that question to Congress. (more…)

Today the committee hearing focused on the problems currently facing the banking industry, and how those problems are largely caused by the weakening housing market and credit predicament in the nation. Present at the hearing were Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Sheila C. Bair, Comptroller of the Currency of the US Treasury John C. Dugan, Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision John M. Reich, Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration JoAnn Johnson, Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Donald L. Kohn, and Iowa Superintendent of Banking Thomas Gronstal.

One colorful individual at the hearing was a member of Code Pink, of the women-initiated peace movement, who walked up to Senator Dole and asked her what she was doing to ensure that US troops were coming home. Wearing a t-shirt with the slogan “Don’t Fund War,” and a hat of pink flowers and pink ribbons with “Make out, not war” scrawled across the top, the woman was escorted out of the room by a police officer. On her way out she cried, “How about housing for Americans rather than more housing for the military.”

The hearing then progressed onto the issue that the weakening housing market was due to credit problems, and that the credit problems, in turn, are due to problems in the subprime market. Chairman Dodd voiced the general sentiment of the hearing, stating, “Where were the regulators? Why didn’t they do more? A loan should be given on the loaner’s ability to pay.”

The panel of witnesses began with Ms. Bair, who called for a return to traditional lending practices. According to Ms. Bair, capital needs to flow to banks in order to provide security following the implementation of Basel II. The value of Basel seemed to be of great concern in the hearing. Senator Dodd questioned Ms. Bair on the impact Basel would have on the situation, to which she answered that because Basel runs on model system, it is only as good as the data they put in them. Therefore, they can only anticipate problems to a certain degree. Mr. Kohn echoed Ms. Bair, stating that as Basel II is implemented, banks must have capital to back it up and safeguard its solvency and overall economic stability. More capital essentially means banks, “being more active lenders who are actively engaged,” and whose “viability not threatened.”