Chris Cole

Global Financial Regulation

Jared Seberg, James Barth, Bob Corker, Gary Lathrop, Kevin Lynch, Tom Pirelli, Bruce Brown, Chris Cole, Michael D.

A panel of senators and banking executives concluded that financial instability stems primarily from excessive risk and regulatory failure rather than sheer institutional size, with Senator Bob Corker and experts like James Barth advocating for targeted GAO studies over mandatory bank breakups. The discussion emphasized the risks of fragmented global regulations and overly stringent capital requirements, which threaten to shift lending activity to the unregulated shadow banking sector while stifling economic growth. Furthermore, the group uniformly rejected a financial transaction tax, called for regulating specific activities instead of institutions, and supported opening the banking sector to non-financial firms to foster innovation and accountability.