Obama Wants to Tame Wild Derivatives Market

Jamie Dimon not in tune with Obama, too invested in big banks

(NEWSER) - A report today that JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has the inside track to replace Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary is getting mostly guffaws online, with even the conservative Wall Street Journal admitting that Dimon’s way too much an insider for the job just now. Indeed, chuckles Daniel Indiviglio , the New York Post story is “amusing” because, “for starters, Geithner isn’t going anywhere. Anyone who thinks he might be is nuts.” More»

(NEWSER) - President Obama visited Wall Street’s historic Federal Hall today, on the anniversary of Lehman Brothers' collapse, to make the case for the financial regulatory reforms wending their way through Congress. He spoke of the need for “strong rules of the road” for the financial system. “History cannot be allowed to repeat itself,” he said, calling the effort “the most ambitious overhaul of the financial regulatory system since the Great Depression.” More»

Treasury sec should be able to seize non-bank firms, says administration

(NEWSER) - The Obama administration is expected to ask Congress for expanded powers that would let the Treasury secretary seize insurers, hedge funds, and other non-bank financial companies whose failure would imperil the economy, reports the Washington Post. While negotiations are ongoing, the plans to expand Treasury authority would represent a major shift from the current model of financial regulation, in which independent agencies have oversight powers. More»

Prez, Geithner must quit 'coddling' Wall Street: Dowd

(NEWSER) - Michelle Obama said her husband would be pulling garden weeds whether he “liked it or not”—and the president could take a page from her book, writes Maureen Dowd in the New York Times. Obama and the Treasury secretary “have been coddling the Wall Street elite,” and the banking bigwigs are taking advantage, heedlessly throwing money around like nothing’s changed. More»

Banks may have unfair edge in information on credit-default swaps

(NEWSER) - The Justice Department is probing the market for credit-default swaps, the largely unregulated derivatives that contributed to the financial crisis, Bloomberg reports. Justice is investigating whether big banks have unfair access to price information through their ownership of a private company that provides data to investors. The Obama administration wants to bring transparency to the swap market, where investors speculate on companies’ failure to pay debts. More»