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Senate bill debates derivative deals

Nancy Marshall-Genzer Apr 19, 2010
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Senate bill debates derivative deals

Nancy Marshall-Genzer Apr 19, 2010
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TEXT OF STORY

Steve Chitoakis: Democrats are hoping to bring their financial overhaul bill to the Senate floor this week. The idea behind the bill is to prevent yet another financial crisis. Marketplace’s Nancy Marshall Genzer takes a look at the main ways the bill could do just that.


Nancy Marshall Genzer: Backers of the financial overhaul have settled on putting a consumer watchdog in the Federal Reserve. Now sparks are flying over how to handle derivatives, complicated investments that contributed to the meltdown.

Mary Bottari with Americans for Financial Reform says the legislation creates public exchanges for most derivatives.

Mary Bottari: They would take a lot of the derivative deals out of the shadow market and put them in an open, transparent market.

Financial firms would also contribute to a fund for dismantling failing banks. But Charles Elson ways none of this would prevent another financial crisis. He teaches corporate governance at the University of Delaware. His point is we’d still rely on the same government regulators who missed the first crisis.

Charles Elson: In other words, if someone drives you into the woods and gets you lost, is that the right person to drive you out of the woods? And the answer is no.

And Elson says no matter what powers regulators get, there’s no way avoid financial crises.

In Washington, I’m Nancy Marshall Genzer for Marketplace.

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