[Infowarrior] - NYS Bank Regulator to Treasury: Drop Dead

[Richard Forno]

NYS Bank Regulator to Treasury: Drop Dead
  
By Barry Ritholtz - August 8th, 2012, 7:28AM

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/08/nys-bank-regulator-to-treasury-drop-dead

Benjamin Lawsky, head of the New York State Department of Financial Services, has declared that the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve is “too corrupt to be involved in NY’s actions against money launderers and Iran sponsors at Standard Chartered bank.

At least, that is what is implied by his actions (but not his expel;licit words. I wrote that). Lawsky refused to give Tim Geithner or Ben Bernanke or anyone else at Treasury or the Fed any advance notice of pending legal or regulatory actions. Sorry, Treasury, but your track records preceded you.

Good for him.

I wish more state regulators, attorneys general, and banking supervisors would distance themselves from all Federal relations. We have a Republic, with separate rules for state and national regulation. It is apparently to all that the Federal regulators, other than the FDIC, have dropped fate ball.

Start with the corruption of the Treasury department going back to Robert Rubin. His tenure, working in concert with Alan Greenspan and Phil Gramm, was where the office of the Treasury Secretary turned into a Wall Street subsidiary. The revolving door policy was in full view. Once Treasury was corrupted, it was a short hop to the rest of the oversight infrastructure taking their level of regulatory capture to new levels.

This Treasury Department, like the one that preceded it, along with Congress and the White House, have proven themselves to be utterly incapable of overseeing the banking industry. Rather than adhere to this betrayal of the public trust, Mr. Lawsky decided to do something amazing: He followed the law. The rest of the regulatory sector should take note.

Have a read of the paragraph at the top of this page to see how prosecution of banking felons is supposed to be done.

We live in a Banana Republic formerly known as the United States. Its time to turn this nation back into a Democracy . . .


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Just because i'm near the punchbowl doesn't mean I'm also drinking from it.