Financial Overhaul Glance

03/31/2008

By The Associated Press | March 31, 2008


The main elements of the Bush administration's plan to overhaul financial regulation, as outlined in a 22-page executive summary obtained by The Associated Press. The proposal is set to be released Monday:

_Expand the role of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets to include the entire financial sector and not just financial markets.

_Create a federal commission, the Mortgage Origination Commission, to develop uniform, minimum licensing standards for mortgage market participants.

_Close the Office of Thrift Supervision, which regulates thrift institutions, and move those functions to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates banks.

_Merge the functions of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission into the Securities and Exchange Commission to create one agency to provide unified oversight of the futures and securities industries.

_Establish an Office of National Insurance within the Treasury Department to regulate those in the insurance industry who want to operate under an optional federal charter.

_Work to establish as a long-term goal three major regulators: the Federal Reserve as a "market stability regulator"; a "prudential financial regulator" to take over the functions of five separate banking regulators; and a "business conduct regulator" to regulate business conduct and consumer protection.