Political Quotes

“I thank Senator Levin and will be setting forth here our joint explanation of the Merkley-Levin provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. Sections 619, 620 and 621 do three things: prohibit high-risk proprietary trading at banks, limit the systemic risk of such activities at systemically significant nonbank financial companies, and prohibit material conflicts of interest in asset-backed securitizations. Sections 619 and 620 amend the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 to broadly prohibit proprietary trading, while nevertheless permitting certain activities that may technically fall within the definition of proprietary trading but which are, in fact, safer, client-oriented financial services. To account for the additional risk of proprietary trading among systemically critical financial firms that are not banks, bank holding companies, or the like, the sections require nonbank financial companies supervised by the Federal Reserve Board, the 'Board', to keep additional capital for their proprietary trading activities and subject them to quantitative limits on those activities. In addition, given the unique control that firms who package and sell asset-backed securities (including synthetic asset-backed securities) have over transactions involving those securities, section 621 protects purchasers by prohibiting those firms from engaging in transactions that involve or result in material conflicts of interest.”