The Financial Services Committee approved the Financial Stability Improvement Act, which passed by a vote of 31-27. This marks the ninth major bill approved by the committee this year to modernize America’s financial rules. Once signed into law, these reforms will work to put a stop to predatory lending to unregulated deriviatives. According to the summary, the legislation will:
- Identify and subject systemically risky firms to increased scrutiny and regulation: H.R. 3996 will create an inter-agency oversight council that will identify and monitor financial firms and activities that could potentially undermine the nation’s financial stability. Once identified, these firms and activities will be subject to stricter oversight, standards, and regulation.
- Ensure that the collapse of a large, interconnected financial institution does not lead to another taxpayer bailout or jeopardize the economy: Currently, there is no system in place to responsibly shut down a failing financial company like AIG or Lehman Brothers. This bill establishes an orderly process for the dismantling any large failing financial institution in a way that protects taxpayers and minimizes the impact to the financial system.
- Hold Wall Street accountable for its actions: If a large institution fails, the bill holds the financial industry and shareholders responsible for the cost of the company’s orderly wind down, not taxpayers. Under H.R. 3996, any costs for dismantling a failed financial company will be repaid first from the assets of the failed firm at the expense of shareholders and creditors. Any shortfall would then be covered by a “dissolution fund” pre-funded by large financial companies with assets of more than $50 billion and hedge funds with assets of more than $10 billion.