Treasury Secretary Geithner delivered his Annual Report of the FSOC to the House Financial Services Committee this afternoon, following a similar hearing earlier this morning before the Senate Banking Committee (see Client Report FSOC5). While the main themes of the hearing were the current state of the U.S. economy and the European sovereign debt crisis, House Republicans also touched on key policy issues, including SIFI designation (see Client Reports in the SYSTEMIC series), GSE reform, and regulatory arbitrage. Although Members were generally reluctant to criticize the Basel III standards, Republicans questioned the impact of all the rules on the economy and on affected institutions. Secretary Geithner supported pending rules, although he did express some reservations about the degree to which global ones will be universally implemented. Secretary Geithner confirmed that the FSOC is meeting next Tuesday to determine the criteria for designating SIFIs. This report evaluates key financial-regulatory issues raised at the hearing.
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