New York Times (August 9)
“It’s important that regulators develop security rules for cars, which are becoming computers on wheels.” In the U.S., the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration should “start writing basic security standards that require automakers to test the software and make sure a car’s wireless system cannot be used to control the engine and brakes. The agency’s regulations on airbags, seatbelts and crash testing have helped save countless lives. New rules for software that operate cars could prove just as important.”
Tags: Airbags, Automakers, Cars, NHTSA, Regulators, Seatbelts, Security, Software, U.S., Wireless
New York Times (October 19)
“The regulatory woes seem to be never ending for the newest wave of tech start-ups.” Start-ups like Uber and Airbnb are facing regulatory hurdles and legal battles in numerous jurisdictions. A naïve “belief that problems can be solved without involving people is probably why many of these companies did not meet with regulators and officials before starting services in new cities. And it has come back to haunt them.”
Tags: Airbnb, Officials, Problems, Regulators, Regulatory, Services, Start-ups, Tech, Uber
Bloomberg (September 9)
The Federal Reserve is taking a tougher regulatory stance and will require large, systemically important banks to increase their capital. “Given the incentives big banks face, only regulators can ensure they operate with enough capital for their own good — and for the good of society. The Fed still has a long way to go, but at least it’s headed in the right direction.”
Tags: Banks, Capital, Fed, Incentives, Regulators, Society
Financial Times (August 4)
In what’s regarded as “a notorious feature of the world’s second-biggest equity market,” the Nikkei newspaper somehow very accurately “previews” earnings results days or weeks before they are officially reported. Authorities in other jurisdictions might worry “about disclosure violations, or a lack of equal access to price-sensitive information…. In Japan, regulators seem to have turned a blind eye to the ‘Nikkei previews.’” As these are only available in Japanese, they may place “non-Japanese readers at a disadvantage,” along with those who don’t read the newspaper and rely instead on the company’s official public results announcements.
Tags: Authorities, Blind, Disadvantage, Disclosure violations, Earnings results, Equal access, Equity market, Japan, Nikkei newspaper, Notorious, Previews, Regulators
New York Times (March 23)
“It’s the one question about the 2008 financial crisis that people still ask me more than any other: Why have regulators done so little to rein in the credit rating agencies?” Despite abuses which helped create the sub-prime crisis and despite numerous resolutions to revise the regulatory environment for firms like S&P and Moody’s, little has been done. “Ratings still loom large, even after they were found to have been so disastrously inaccurate in 2008. It’s yet another example of the glacial pace of regulatory change.”
Tags: Abuses, Credit rating agencies, Financial Crisis, Moody's, Ratings, Regulators, S&P, Sub-prime crisis
The Economist (November 23, 2013)
Impatient with European dithering, “the Federal Reserve will soon publish rules governing the operations of big foreign banks that will, in effect, throw up a wall around America’s financial markets.” This is understandable, but likely to lead badly as the Europeans retaliate with their own restrictions, fragmenting the global banking system. Instead, “America should give global banking rules—and Europe’s dilatory regulators—one last chance.”
Tags: Europe, Federal Reserve, Financial markets, Global banking rules, Regulators, Restrictions, Retaliation
New York Times (October 6)
“Tablets and other devices have been around for years. It’s time regulators issued common-sense rules for their use aboard planes.” A recent recommendation from an expert panel suggests the Federal Aviation Administration (F.A.A) might loosen regulations on the use of electronic devices. The panel’s “sensible recommendation would allow passengers to read e-books, listen to music or watch movies without causing interference during takeoffs and landings.” Partial restrictions against using cell phones and Wi-Fi would, however, remain in place if the F.A.A. follows the panel’s recommendation.
Tags: Cell phones, E-books, Electronic devices, F.A.A., Interference, Landings, Movies, Music, Passengers, Planes, Regulators, Restrictions, Tablets, Takeoffs, Wi-Fi
Forbes (May 5, 2013)
Urging financial institutions to adopt one-size fits all risk models has can be disastrous. “We have real-life proof of the folly in this kind of forced uniformity: the Basel Accords. For years regulators around the world have been concocting uniform risk assessments to judge bank loans. The results of this exercise have been disastrous. Banks had to hold no reserves against government debt yet hold hefty set-asides for business loans. Greek government bonds were seen as infinitely safer than a loan to, say, IBM. Mortgage-backed securities also got preferred regulatory treatment–and we all know where that led.”
Tags: Banks, Basel Accord, Government debt, Loans, Mortgage-backed securities, Regulators, Reserves, Uniform risk assessment
Wall Street Journal (January 17)
Over the past 5 years, the EU has been suffering from “a kind of schizophrenia about the role that credit-rating agencies such as Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch should play in the markets.” Some of the reforms have been hare-brained, like trying to silence downgrades, but the latest package is on target with a proposal to write the agencies out of EU law. “Denying ratings any sort of official status is the best reform for a business that has long dined out on the privileged position that regulators granted them. It should also really be the only reform you need.”
Tags: Credit-rating agencis, EU law, Fitch, Moody's, Official status, Regulators, S&P
Institutional Investor (September Issue)
Is the financial system safer “after four years of summit meetings, regulatory conclaves, landmark legislation and detailed rule-writing—all of it aimed at ensuring that the financial system would never again crash the global economy or force taxpayers to underwrite costly bailouts?” Many things appear to have changed for the better and the regulatory stance is more aggressive, yet some of the changes may be releasing new risks that could surpass anything we’ve seen before. “The answer is not simple.”
Tags: Bailout, Economy, Financial system, Regulators, Risk, Safety, Taxpayers
