Government Hearings - 2007

International Accounting Standards: Opportunities, Challenges, and Global Convergence Issues : Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Securities and Insurance and Investment of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Tenth Congress, First Session, on Opportunities, Issues, Differences, and Challenges as the U.S. and International Countries Move Towards Convergence of IFRS with U.S. GAAP Along with the Impact of These Proposed Efforts on Stakeholders, Including Regulators, Investors, Auditors, and Companies, Wednesday, October 24, 2007
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment

Consolidation of NASD and the Regulatory Functions of the NYSE: Working Towards Improved Regulation : Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Securities and Insurance and Investment of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Tenth Congress, First Session, on the Overall Impact and Outcome of the Consolidation on the Regulatory Scheme Including But Not Limited to the Areas of Rules, Governance, Enforcement and Compliance, Advertising, Arbitration, Funding, and the Potential Impact on Investors, Thursday, May 17, 2007
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment

Subprime Mortgage Market Turmoil: Examining the Role of Securitization : Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Securities and Insurance and Investment of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Tenth Congress, First Session, on how Subprime Mortgages are Securitized, the Effect of Recent Increases in Defaults and Delinquencies on the Subprime Securitization Market for Both Borrowers and Investors, and how Credit Risk for Mortgage-backed Securities is Determined and how the Assigned Ratings are Monitored, Tuesday, April 17, 2007
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment

  • 2007 0307 - GOV (Senate) - The McCarran-Ferguson Act and Antitrust Immunity: Good for Consumers?
    • [PDF-144p, VIDEO-?] - <mp3, mp4> - R
    • Senate - Committee on the Judiciary
  • 2007 0613 - GOV (House) - Improving Federal Consumer Protection in Financial Services. (CSPAN) Financial Services Consumer Protection, Barney Frank (D-MA)
    • [PDF- 257p, VIDEO-CSPAN]
    • (p2) - Barney Frank (D-MA) - There is a reason why consumer protection has been more often done at the State level; State regulators are more likely to be elected officials than Federal regulators—State attorneys general, State insurance commissioners, and other State officials.
    • (p2) - Barney Frank (D-MA) - And I will tell you this: If you ask me, where is the greater intellectual stimulation, where do I think any individual energy is that I express, where will I get greater results, it is probably in making broad national policy.
      • But cumulatively dealing with these individual consumer complaints is very, very important for two reasons: first, for the injustice done to individuals; and second, if there is no consumer protection mechanism in the society, things will go off track, and there could become this bias against consumers.
      • Now it is not that I believe that the banks and other institutions that are regulated are rapacious or greedy beyond the norm that we are supposed to have in a capitalist system. It is just that we all make mistakes, and even more of a problem, we don’t like to admit our mistakes; we like to cover them up, we like to deny that we made them, and we like to blame other people for them. Those are human traits. I do not impute them to the banks; I impute them to human beings.
      • Consumer protection exists to be something of a corrective force, and here’s the problem: I do not think that the Federal agencies as currently and historically constituted, given their mission, are at present adequately staffed or oriented or legally structured to provide consumer protection.
    • (p3) - Barney Frank (D-MA) - I was told by one of the regulators, well, we can do regulation of consumer protections under our power to enforce safety and soundness on the banks, the argument being that a bank that does not treat consumers well can be called to account because it is jeopardizing its safety and soundness. I wish.
      • In fact, done cleverly enough, being unfair to consumers can contribute to the safety and soundness of a bank. 
  • 2007 1003 - GOV (House) - The Need for Insurance Regulatory Reform, Paul Kanjorski (D-PA)
    • [PDF-163p, VIDEO-?] - <mp3, mp4> - R
    • Condron, Christopher M., Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, on behalf of the American Council of Life Insurers.
    • Ed Royce (R-CA) - So we have the SEC. We have the Fed. We have the OCC that all serve to get financial instruments to represent the interests of the banking industry in terms of gaining access to markets overseas, and you are speculating that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners is not going to have that same clout or seat at the table in terms of opening those markets for competition?
    • Mr. Condron (ACLI) - They just cannot. You know, they cannot agree on what the reserving requirements will be on universal life insurance policies, or when they do agree, they cannot get all of the States to go along, and that is the frustration, I think, Commissioner Bell and all of the commissioners have always had with the NAIC.
    • House - Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises - Committee on Financial Services
  • 2007 1030 - GOV (House) - Additional Perspectives on the Need for Insurance Regulatory Reform, Paul Kanjorski (D-PA)  ---  [BonkNote]
    • [PDF-180p, VIDEO-Archive.org] - <mp3, mp4> - R
    • NCOIL
    • Reinsurance
    • House - Committee on Financial Services -Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises
    • House Page - [link]