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Frank Says Obama to Force Banks in TARP to Lend More


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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home

By Alison Vekshin

Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said President Barack Obama will require banks receiving government aid to lend more to businesses and consumers, saying the Bush administration “made a mistake” by not setting stricter rules for institutions getting funds from the $700 billion financial-rescue package.

“I think you’re going to see the Obama administration, having learned from that, push for much more lending,” Frank said today on ABC’s This Week. “There are going to be some real rules in there.”

Frank and other Democrats have faulted the Bush administration for not setting restrictions on banks that got capital injections from the first $350 billion installment of funds Congress released in October. Congress last month released the remaining funds to the Obama administration, which is crafting its own bank-rescue blueprint.

“It is a mistake to assume that the Obama administration hasn’t learned from the mistakes of the Bush administration,” Frank of Massachusetts said. “I believe they’re going to do it very differently.”

Lawmakers, upset that the bank rescue plan shows few signs of lifting the economy, have been pressing the Obama administration to come up with a plan for overhauling the effort.

Working on Plan

The president in his weekly radio address yesterday said his administration is working on a plan to unlock credit markets and lower mortgage rates.

“Soon my Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, will announce a new strategy for reviving our financial system that gets credit flowing to businesses and families,” Obama said. He didn’t provide specifics.

“We’ll help lower mortgage costs and extend loans to small businesses so they can create jobs,” Obama said. “We’ll ensure that CEOs are not draining funds that should be advancing our recovery.”

Geithner said last week the department is considering a “range of options” with the goal of preserving the private banking system.

Under Geithner’s predecessor, Henry Paulson, the Treasury allocated about half of the $700 billion program to inject capital into banks, help automakers, and guarantee assets for Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp.

Ownership Stakes

In its rescue efforts so far, the Treasury has taken ownership stakes in more than 300 banks as a condition of receiving aid. The government usually receives preferred shares and warrants, which can be converted into common stock and cashed out at the government’s request.

The Treasury, under the TARP, has not sought voting rights or control over day-to-day business.

Frank said on the ABC program that inadequate government oversight allowed risky behavior that caused the financial crisis.

“The complete absence of regulation in the financial area has, I think, been a disaster,” Frank said.

Companies outside the banking system were extending themselves “into instruments which they couldn’t back up,” Frank said. “It was even within the banking system, letting people go with things that were off the balance sheet.”

Frank said the government has “under-taxed some of the financial manipulation, and I would be for a package that would shift that.”

Frank said he voted to raise the tax on so-called carried- interest profits that hedge-fund executives typically earn.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alison Vekshin in Washington at avekshin@bloomberg.net.





http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home

By Alison Vekshin

Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said President Barack Obama will require banks receiving government aid to lend more to businesses and consumers, saying the Bush administration “made a mistake” by not setting stricter rules for institutions getting funds from the $700 billion financial-rescue package.

“I think you’re going to see the Obama administration, having learned from that, push for much more lending,” Frank said today on ABC’s This Week. “There are going to be some real rules in there.”

Frank and other Democrats have faulted the Bush administration for not setting restrictions on banks that got capital injections from the first $350 billion installment of funds Congress released in October. Congress last month released the remaining funds to the Obama administration, which is crafting its own bank-rescue blueprint.

“It is a mistake to assume that the Obama administration hasn’t learned from the mistakes of the Bush administration,” Frank of Massachusetts said. “I believe they’re going to do it very differently.”

Lawmakers, upset that the bank rescue plan shows few signs of lifting the economy, have been pressing the Obama administration to come up with a plan for overhauling the effort.

Working on Plan

The president in his weekly radio address yesterday said his administration is working on a plan to unlock credit markets and lower mortgage rates.

“Soon my Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, will announce a new strategy for reviving our financial system that gets credit flowing to businesses and families,” Obama said. He didn’t provide specifics.

“We’ll help lower mortgage costs and extend loans to small businesses so they can create jobs,” Obama said. “We’ll ensure that CEOs are not draining funds that should be advancing our recovery.”

Geithner said last week the department is considering a “range of options” with the goal of preserving the private banking system.

Under Geithner’s predecessor, Henry Paulson, the Treasury allocated about half of the $700 billion program to inject capital into banks, help automakers, and guarantee assets for Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp.

Ownership Stakes

In its rescue efforts so far, the Treasury has taken ownership stakes in more than 300 banks as a condition of receiving aid. The government usually receives preferred shares and warrants, which can be converted into common stock and cashed out at the government’s request.

The Treasury, under the TARP, has not sought voting rights or control over day-to-day business.

Frank said on the ABC program that inadequate government oversight allowed risky behavior that caused the financial crisis.

“The complete absence of regulation in the financial area has, I think, been a disaster,” Frank said.

Companies outside the banking system were extending themselves “into instruments which they couldn’t back up,” Frank said. “It was even within the banking system, letting people go with things that were off the balance sheet.”

Frank said the government has “under-taxed some of the financial manipulation, and I would be for a package that would shift that.”

Frank said he voted to raise the tax on so-called carried- interest profits that hedge-fund executives typically earn.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alison Vekshin in Washington at avekshin@bloomberg.net.

Government do-gooders dictating to lenders who to lend money to and under what terms...this is what caused the whole fiasco to begin with.

“I think you’re going to see the Obama administration, having learned from that, push for much more lending,” Frank said today on ABC’s This Week. “There are going to be some real rules in there.”

Frank and the dims pushing for more lending to marginally credit worthy folks is one of the reasons we are now bailing out Fanny, Freddie & who knows how many other lending institutions.

If banks can't lend money, they can't make money. If busineeses can't get money they can't use it to make money.

When will it end???? If debt continues to build, inflation will set in. If inflation sets in, NO ONE WILL BORROW AT rates of 15%.

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