D'AMATO CRITICIZES FEDERAL BANKING OFFICIAL.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee attacked a top bank regulator Thursday, saying his push to let some national banks peddle more stocks and bonds could lead to a taxpayer bailout. Eugene Ludwig, the comptroller of the currency Comptroller of the Currency A government official, appointed by the President of the United States, who keeps control over all national banks, and receives reports from the banks at least quarterly, to be published in newspapers. , already was under fire from Republicans for attending a White House kaffeeklatsch kaf·fee·klatsch n. Variant of coffee klatch. with several bankers and Democratic Party fund-raisers. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N R-N Raion (Russian, district; used in postal addresses) .Y., the banking panel chairman, said the rule changes announced by Ludwig were ``overreaching'' and ``dangerous'' and that Ludwig had made a ``mad dash into an area that I think can jeopardize the taxpayers of this country.'' D'Amato and other committee Republicans also criticized a new proposal by the Federal Reserve Board - which D'Amato said grew out of competition between the two agencies - that would eliminate many so-called ``firewalls'' separating banks and their securities affiliates. The firewalls limit, for example, banks' ability to extend credit to such subsidiaries. The result of the regulators' actions, D'Amato warned, could be a multibillion-dollar taxpayer bailout for banks similar to the rescue of the savings and loan savings and loan n. a banking and lending institution, chartered either by a state or the Federal government. Savings and loans only make loans secured by real property from deposits, upon which they pay interest slightly higher than that paid by most banks. industry in the late 1980s. Lee Cross, a spokeswoman for Ludwig, disputed D'Amato's characterization of the change, saying it ``does not give banks any new authority to move into new activities.'' Banks would be allowed to expand their commercial activities - securities, insurance and real estate sales - only on a case-by-case basis, Cross said after the hearing of the Senate Banking subcommittee on financial institutions. She said that Ludwig, who is the chief regulator for commercial banks, has taken ``a very judicious and cautious approach to this.'' D'Amato, who has proposed comprehensive legislation on bank deregulation Deregulation The reduction or elimination of government power in a particular industry, usually enacted to create more competition within the industry. Notes: Traditional areas that have been deregulated are the telephone and airline industries. , said he now was poised to begin making ``single-shot'' proposals to counter the regulators' actions. D'Amato had criticized the changes when Ludwig announced them in November. But his comments at Thursday's hearing were more pointed and also were directed at the Federal Reserve, which supervises bank holding companies. D'Amato told Susan Phillips Susan Phillips (born June 18, 1949) is a small businessperson and a Republican member of the Missouri House of Representatives. She resides in Kansas City, Missouri, with her husband, Keith Phillips. They have two children, Hannah, and Asher. , a member of the Fed's board of governors who was testifying before the subcommittee, that Ludwig's action had set off ``an unhealthy competition between regulators.'' |
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