Lincoln Bill will Bring Total Transparency, Accountability to Wall Street
U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry today introduced the “The Wall Street Transparency and Accountability Act” to bring 100 percent transparency to the nation’s financial markets, prevent future bailouts and protect jobs on Main Street.
“The days of backroom Wall Street deals are over,” Lincoln said. “This is the strongest Wall Street reform bill to date and represents an historic opportunity for real reform. America’s consumers and businesses will finally see a financial market that operates in an open and transparent manner.”
Lincoln’s legislation includes mandatory clearing and trading requirements, real-time reporting of derivatives trades and ensures that all loopholes are closed.
“The clearing and trading of financial transactions lowers risks and makes the entire financial system safer. My bill will bring 100 percent transparency to an unregulated $600 trillion market, expose these markets to the light of day and keep this money back on Main Street where it belongs,” Lincoln said.
Lincoln’s proposal also prohibits the Federal Reserve and FDIC from providing any federal funds to bail out Wall Street firms who engage in risky derivative deals. Banks engaging in risky swaps transactions will be forced to spin off their swap dealer desks or be barred from receiving any federal assistance.
“My proposal puts an end to ‘too big to fail’ and prevents future Wall Street bailouts. Financial institutions will have to decide if they want to be banks or if they want to engage in the risky financial trading that caused the collapse of firms such as AIG,” Lincoln said. “My bill also requires Wall Street to put the interests of Main Street, such as municipalities and retiree pension funds, above their own bottom line and puts an end to Wall Street’s ability to knowingly enter into deals that allow their clients to defraud third parties or the public.”
As Chairman of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee, Lincoln has jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission which oversees the derivatives market. Since becoming Chairman last fall, Lincoln has worked closely with Senate Democrats and Republicans, as well as the Administration to craft meaningful reform.
The Senate Agriculture Committee will hold a mark-up next week on this legislation. Full legislative text is available at http://ag.senate.gov/site/legislation.html.
