The Regulations of Markets and Institutions

1. The Regulations of Markets and Institutions

2. Introduction • Financial system is one of most intensely regulated sectors in US economy • Promote competition • Protect individual consumers • Assure stability of financial system • Facilitate monetary policy

3. Regulation of Financial Markets in the United States • Desire to protect individual investor • Best protection is adequate information about securities • Full disclosure broadens investor’s participation in financial markets

4. Regulation of the Primary Market • Securities Act of 1933 • Requires disclosure of information for newly issued publicly traded securities • Privately held firms are not required to reveal financial information to the public at large, only to the lenders • Securities Exchange Act of 1934

5. Securities Exchange Act of 1934 • Created the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to administer provisions of 1933 Act • Publicly traded security must file registration statement and preliminary prospectus disclosing information about issue • If information is adequate, SEC approves the statement and sale • Approval by the SEC does not imply that it views the new issue as an attractive investment—merely means disclosure of information is adequate

6. Securities Exchange Act of 1934 • Extended 1933 Act to include periodic disclosure of relevant financial information for firms trading in secondary market • 10K Report—Annual financial statement and relevant information about a firm’s performance and activity • Insider Trading Laws • Prohibit insiders from trading on private information not previously disclosed to public • Corporate officers and major stockholders must report all their transactions of their own firm’s stock

7. Regulation of the Secondary Market • SEC and other regulatory agencies • Have authority to regulate securities exchanges, OTC trading, dealers, and brokers • Basically rely on self-regulation by markets and firms under their control • Fed sets margin requirements on stocks—how much of purchase price an investor can borrow

8. Regulation of Commercial Banks in the United States • Protect individual depositor • Foster a competitive banking system • Ensure bank safety and soundness

9. U.S. Banking Regulatory Structure • Dual Banking System • Federal Reserve Act of 1913 • FDIC

10. Dual Banking System • Federal and State banks existing side-by-side • Legislation in 1860’s established federally chartered banks under supervision of Comptroller of the Currency (US Treasury Department) • Intent was to drive existing state chartered banks out of business by imposing a prohibitive tax on issuance of state banknotes

11. Dual Banking System • However, state banks survived due to acceptance of demand deposits in lieu of currency • State chartered banks are supervised by regulators in their respective state • Federally chartered banks tend to be larger, but state banks are more numerous

12. Federal Reserve Act of 1913 • Required national banks to become members of the Fed, while state banks had option. • All state banks currently fall under regulation of the Fed (member or not)

13. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) • All member banks of Fed (national and some state banks) are required to carry FDIC insurance • A majority of state banks not members of the Fed have opted to participate in FDIC program

14. Protecting Individual Depositors and Financial System Stability • Rather than relying on disclosure, thrust of bank regulation is on bank examinations and prompt corrective action when necessary • The primary liabilities of a commercial bank are their demand deposits

15. Demand Deposits • Paid on a first-come/first-serve basis • Banks must maintain sufficient liquidity to meet demand deposits • Difficult and costly for banks to sell illiquid assets • Fear that a bank is insolvent will cause a run on the bank or a system-wide bank panic • Periodic examination of a bank by regulatory agencies to insure banks are solvent

16. Deposit Insurance • FDIC established by Banking Act of 1933 to insure deposits at commercial and mutual savings banks. • Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC) insured deposits in S&Ls • Resulted from large number of bank failures in the early 1930’s • Intent is to protect small savers and reduce the incentive for insured depositors to join a bank run

17. Deposit Insurance • Currently insure deposits up to $100,000, but actual coverage may be more. • Coverage depends on procedure used by FDIC: • Payoff method—Bank goes into receivership and FDIC pays out funds up to $100,000 • Assumption method—FDIC merges failed bank with a healthy one and deposits of failed bank are assumed by solvent bank • “Too big to fail” Doctrine—FDIC may extend loans to very large banks in trouble to allow continued operations

18. Moral Hazard and Deposit Insurance • Existence of FDIC eliminates possibility of large-scale bank failure and “run on the banks” • Moral Hazard • Depositors have little incentive to monitor riskiness of their banks

19. Moral Hazard and Deposit Insurance • Shareholders and directors of banks have incentive to make their banks riskier at the expense of the FDIC • However, several factors may reduce risk taking • Risk averse—banks are privately owned and directors are paid based on performance • Bank examination and other regulatory efforts

20. Federal Regulatory Agencies • Federal Reserve • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) • Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) • Department of Justice

21. Major Bank Laws • 1913 The Federal Reserve Act • Created the Federal Reserve System. • 1927 The McFadden Act • Subjected branching of nationally chartered banks to the same branching regulations as state-chartered banks. • Prohibited interstate banking.

22. 1933 The Glass-Steagall Act • Established the FDIC as a temporary agency. • Separated commercial and investment banking. • Established Regulation Q interest rate ceilings. • Set the interest rate ceiling on demand deposits at 0 percent.

23. Glass-Steagall Branching Restrictions • Interstate branching: • The operation of banking offices in more than one state was made illegal. • Intrastate branching: • The operation of banking offices anywhere within a state was left to the discretion of the states.

24. 1935 The Banking Act • Established the FDIC as a permanent agency.

25. 1956 The Bank Holding Company Act • Restricted the banking and non-banking acquisition activities of multi-bank holding companies. • Empowered the Federal Reserve to regulate multi-bank holding companies.

26. 1970 Amendments to the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 • Extended the BHC Act to one-bank holding companies. • Restricted permissible BHC activities to those “closely related to banking.”

27. 1978 International Banking Act • Regulated foreign bank branches and agencies in the United States. • Subjected foreign banks to the McFadden and Glass-Steagall Acts. • Gave foreign banks access to Fedwire, the discount window, and deposit insurance.

28. Partial Deregulation:1971–1989 • Disintermediation: • A situation in which customers of depository institutions withdraw funds from their deposit accounts and use these funds to purchase financial instruments directly.

29. 1980 Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act (DIDMCA) • Phase-out of Regulation Q interest rate ceilings on small time and savings deposits by 1986. • Authorized NOW accounts nationwide. • Imposed reserve requirements on all state and nationally chartered banks. • Increased the ceiling on deposit insurance coverage from $40,000 to $100,000. • Allowed federally chartered savings institutions to make consumer and commercial loans.

30. 1982 Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act (DIA) • Authorized money market deposit accounts. • Increase the DIDMCA limit on consumer loans and commercial paper. • Authorized savings institutions to make commercial real estate loans. • Gave these institutions the power to purchase “unsecured loans,” including low-rated, “junk” bonds. • Gave the FDIC power to permit troubled financial institutions to merge with healthier partners.

31. 1989 Financial Institutions Reform Recovery, and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) • Authorized a taxpayer bailout of the S&L industry. • Brought deposit insurance for Thrifts under the FDIC. • Equalized the capital requirements of savings institutions and banks. • Created the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) to replace the Federal Home Loan Bank Board as the chartering agency of Thrifts. • Created the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) as a temporary agency to resolve failed and failing savings institutions.

32. 1991 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act (FDICIA) • Established higher standards for safety and soundness for financial institutions. • Introduced prompt corrective action (PCA), requiring mandatory interventions by regulators whenever a bank’s capital falls. • Required the establishment of risk-based deposit insurance premiums beginning in 1993. • Limited the use of “too big to fail” bailouts by federal regulators for large banks. • Restricted activities of foreign banks and insured state banks.

33. Capital Requirements of Commercial Banks • Commercial banks are highly leveraged. • Equity/Total Assets < 8% • Regulators from the U.S. and 12 other major countries came together to formulate uniform standards that would apply to all their banks. • Established under the auspices of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), an international clearing bank for central banks. • Adopted in November 1988.

34. Risk-Based Capital Requirements • Bank capital provides a cushion against failure • Banks are required to maintain a capital-assetratio based on a measure of the riskiness of their total assets • Risk-based capital requirements—as a bank’s assets become riskier regulators will force banks to increase their capital • These requirements are agreed upon by the United States and members of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS)

35. Definitions of Capital • Core capital (Tier 1 capital) • Shareholders’ equity plus retained earnings. • Supplementary capital (Tier 2 capital) • A measure that includes certain preferred stock and most subordinated debt. • Total capital • The sum of core capital and supplementary capital.

36. Minimum standards • Ratio of core capital to risk-adjusted assets > 4%. • Ratio of total capital to risk-adjusted assets > 8%. • Ratio of total capital to unadjusted total assets > 4%.

37. The Effects of Capital Requirements • A number of banks failed to meet the three ratio requirements. • Reduced issuance of loans in response to higher capital standards.

38. New Capital Requirements for 2000s • Under 1989 requirement risk weights were arbitrary. • Banks could be treated the same but have very different risks. • By 2005, the Basel Committee plans to have modified risk weights in place that will include greater-than-100% risk weighting for low-quality loans.

39. 1994 Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act • Allowed virtually unimpeded interstate branching by adequately capitalized and managed banks. • Permitted bank holding companies to acquire banks in other states, starting September 1995. • Invalidated the laws of states that allow interstate banking only on a regional or reciprocal basis. • Beginning June 1997, permitted bank holding companies to convert out-of-state subsidiary banks into branches of a single interstate bank. • Permitted newly chartered branches within a state if state law allows.

40. 1999 The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act • Banks are empowered to underwrite insurance and securities, including shares of stock. • Securities firms and insurance companies are permitted to own commercial banks. • Repealed key provisions of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act.

41. The Risk of Universal Banking • The issue of risk has become a key issue in the debate over Gramm-Leach-Bliley • Some concern that the risk of securities activities, especially the underwriting business, may jeopardize the stability of the banking system • Would bank losses in securities activities lead to more bank failures and significant losses to FDIC • Just because investment banking is riskier than commercial banking, this does not mean that the combination of the two will be riskier

42. How many types of regulations do banks face? • Federal Reserve Bank of NY lists the Federal Reserve Regulations • http://www.ny.frb.org/pihome/regs.html

43. Regulatory EnvironmentDual Banking System • Federal Level • State Level

44. Bank Regulation in the U.S.

45. Federal Reserve Supervision • Member commercial banks • Bank holding companies • Financial holding companies • U.S. banking activities of foreign banks

46. FDIC • Supervisor of state-chartered non-member banks. • Insurer. • In charge of bank failure • Administers the BIF and SAIF

47. Comptroller of the Currency • Regulates national banks that are not bank holding companies. • Regulates federally chartered branches of foreign banks.

48. States • Regulate state-chartered, non-FDIC insured banks.

49. Regulations to Protect Individual Depositors • Deposit Insurance (1930) • Insure up to $2,500 ($100,000 today) • Moral Hazard • Deposit insurance provides insured banks incentives to take excessive risks. • Risk-Based Capital Requirements • Prompt Corrective Action • Risk-Based Deposit Insurance Premiums

50. As to guaranteeing bank deposits, the minute the government starts to do that… the government runs into a probably loss. • President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933)